A Night To Remember
by Sue Denham
Summary: The end of term at Cackle’s is usually a quiet affair that passes off without incident. The end of this term however, proves to be anything but quiet.
1. Chapter 1

_**I was fairly certain that 'All the school's a stage' was going to be my one and only WW story but this one jumped out at me on the tube one morning. It has its origins in one line from my previous story. Hopefully this will be shorter than the last one but, I'm hoping, equally as enjoyable.**_

* * *

The end of term, Miss Cackle decided, was an event that always left one with very mixed feelings. On the one hand there was the promise of empty corridors and the opportunity to catch up on paperwork that had somehow fallen through the cracks and never been completed, but on the other, there was a seemingly never-ending stream of letters to be sent out to parents; explaining why their daughter would be coming home with different length hair, different coloured hair, or heaven forbid, no hair at all. 

Amelia sighed heavily as she glared at the typewriter in front of her. She was presently halfway through a letter to a parent who wanted to know why their daughter would be coming home without her MP3 player that had been a birthday gift only a few scant weeks earlier. Amelia adjusted the glasses on the end of her nose as she tried to phrase the next sentence as diplomatically as she could. There were only so many ways that she could say that Miss Hardbroom had heard the whirring of the machinery and immediately blasted the machine into the ether. There **were** only so many ways and she was now fairly sure that she had used all of them up. She took a deep breath and began the seemingly impossible task of listing all the things that Constance Hardbroom viewed as alien technology and of no use to a young witch in training… Amelia had the feeling that it was going to be a very long letter indeed.

Fifteen minutes later, she sat back and tried to massage feeling back into her aching fingers. She read back through the letter and, satisfied that she had managed to cover all the salient points, pulled the sheet of paper from the typewriter and placed it flat on the table.

She tapped her typewriter gently, as though thanking it for performing an exceptional task, and scanned her desk looking for the inkwell.

There was something infinitely satisfying about using a typewriter, she decided. Imogen Drill had tried on numerous occasions to persuade her that a computer was something that no school should be without but, as Constance had firmly pointed out, the school had in fact been without a computer since its inception and had seemed to manage perfectly well.

After signing the letter with a flourish, Amelia picked up the sheet of paper and gently blew on it, hoping to encourage the ink to dry.

She thought briefly about the benefits of having a computer in the school. She was sure that there were plenty of things that a computer could do that her typewriter couldn't… she fleetingly thought of the last time that Mr Hallow had been in the school with his laptop and remembered the way that he'd been able to play a game of solitaire on the thing. For a few moments she was quite taken with the idea of being able to complete a game without someone walking into the staff room and telling her that she should put the red five on the black six. She shook her head and banished the thought from her brain; nothing could replace the satisfaction of hammering away on her trusted manual typewriter. She'd had the machine for more years than she cared to remember and, although the 'E' key now required an exceptional hard punch to make it work, she felt that using anything else would be akin to a betrayal.

She picked up the final sheet of paper and placed it behind the others that made up the letter and, after folding them smartly, slid them into the pre-addressed envelope.

She was about to seal the envelope when there was a smart tap at the door.

"Come in Constance." Amelia called out, certain that the very precise knock belonged to her deputy. There was no-one else in the school who managed to make a simple action feel like it was an order that couldn't be ignored.

The door creaked open noisily on its badly oiled hinges and sure enough, the imposing figure of Constance Hardbroom was silhouetted in the doorway.

"Is there something I can do for you Constance?" Amelia inquired.

She watched as her deputy pursed her lips.

"The staff have been gathered together, waiting for your arrival, since the bell for break sounded." She paused to make sure that she made her point. "Was there something that you wanted?"

Amelia cursed softly beneath her breath. In her haste to reply to Beverly Blackthorn's mother, she'd forgotten all about the staff meeting she had organised. As she rose to her feet, she took in the stern expression and narrowed eyes of her deputy. In a moment of sudden clarity, she understood why so many letters from the parents of 1st years mentioned recurring nightmares that their daughters were having that involved being chased through the castle by a fire-breathing dragon.

She shook the thought from her mind as she headed across the room towards the door.

Constance stepped away from the doorway to let Miss Cackle pass but, as she reached the opening, Amelia turned on her heel and headed back towards her desk. Constance let out an impatient sigh.

"I don't wish to rush you Miss Cackle, but we do only have a few minutes until we have to head back to lessons."

"I won't be a moment Constance." Amelia assured her deputy as she rifled through the piles of letters that sat on her desk. Unable to find the specific letter she was searching for, she settled for grabbing a handful and headed back towards the door again.

Constance sighed again as she had to step back out of the way of her scurrying colleague. After letting her pass, Constance followed her from the room, the keys that hung from the chain around her waist jangling as she swept out into the corridor.

* * *

Five minutes later, Amelia was standing in the centre of the staff room, smiling benignly at her colleagues. The letters she had brought with her from her office were clutched tightly within her grasp but she remained silent, desperately searching for the right way to begin the meeting she'd called. 

Constance glanced up at the clock on the mantelpiece as she waited for Miss Cackle to make known her reason for calling everyone together. There was of course no need for her to look at the clock, she knew precisely what the time was; she knew to the second the amount of time that was left before break was officially over. The look was of course purely for effect. Constance had never been a big believer in staff room meetings as they had, in her experience, a disturbing tendency to get out of hand and usually resulted in Miss Bat shutting herself in the stationary cupboard for the rest of the day, which was both irritating and inconvenient for everyone concerned.

"I've called you together because there are a few things that I think we need to talk about." Miss Cackle began finally, well aware that Constance had a great desire to be somewhere else. "Meryl Marshtoad's parents want to know why their daughter wrote to them with the rather disturbing news that she'd spent the best part of last Thursday as an actual toad."

Miss Cackle raised an eyebrow as she turned her attention towards Constance.

Constance clicked her tongue against her teeth.

"I believe it is standard practice for the 3rd years to spend their free period writing letters home. I don't see that it's all that surprising that Meryl sent news home. I find it rather more surprising that her parents were able to decipher anything from that vulgar and messy scrawl she laughingly passes off as handwriting."

Miss Cackle raised her eyebrows further.

"It wasn't the pupil's dedication to their communications home that I was questioning Constance, rather it was the contents of the letter." She rifled through the pile of papers that she had clutched in her hand and finally pulled the offending letter free. She scanned through the lines of print until she reached the relevant line. "Mrs Marshtoad wants to know why her daughter was subjected to such an experience. It has, and I'm quoting here, 'left a lasting impression on my daughter'." She waved the letter in Constance's direction. "Do you have any idea of just how many of these letters I receive each week?"

"I believe the mean average is 10 this term, up two letters a week on this time last year." Constance replied smoothly.

Amelia stood staring open-mouthed at her colleague, at a complete loss for words. It was always a waste of time, she reminded herself, to ask Constance an impossible question. Constance had never seemed to fully grasp the meaning of the word and therefore constantly came up with correct pieces of information that it was impossible for her to know.

"That's not the point." Amelia tried to get the conversation back under her control. "I would like to know why Meryl was turned into a toad in the first place?"

Constance brushed at an invisible and more than likely imaginary speck of dust on her long black dress.

"It is common for the girls to be tired of simple transfrogrification by the time they reach the 3rd year. I thought it would be prudent to teach them that there are in fact several variations on the spell."

Miss Cackle waved the letter in the air again.

"The letter states that she was a toad for nearly the whole lesson."

Constance nodded her head.

"That is true. I had warned her that the reversing potion she was planning on using was a little hard to achieve with webbed feet but she was quite certain that she was capable of managing it." There was a pause and Miss Cackle was fairly certain that she detected a brief smile on Constance's face. "It turned out that I was right and Meryl did indeed find it more than a little awkward to manage the ingredients without the aid of opposable thumbs."

Miss Cackle tried to look disapprovingly at her deputy but the effect was somewhat ruined by the snort of laughter that came from the high backed chair where Miss Bat was currently sitting. Amelia turned her glare towards the chanting teacher and watched, as the elder woman seemed to sink back into the chair's material.

"And as for you Davina. It appears that you are also on the end of a few letters of… comment from parents." Amelia picked her words carefully. She was well aware that the use of the word complaint would more than likely result in the chanting teacher leaping from her seat like a frightened gazelle and shutting herself in the stationary cupboard for the rest of the day. She'd looked at the teaching schedule before arranging the meeting and certainly didn't fancy inheriting Miss Bat's 1st year class if anything went wrong. She winced as she thought about the noise that she had heard coming from the 1st year's class in recent weeks. She wasn't certain what the noise was but she was convinced that it wasn't music.

"I can't imagine what any parent could find to complain about in my lessons." Davina was more than a little offended at the suggestion. "There is nothing in my lessons that could possibly cause offence to anyone."

"Aside from the tuneless warbling from this current batch of 1st years." Constance muttered.

Miss Bat stuck her nose in the air.

"None of us are perfect Constance; it's just taking them a little time to find their feet."

"And their sense of pitch and tune! I swear my cat could make a more successful stab at 'Eye of Toad' than the current 1st year."

"Humph." Miss Bat had no immediate comeback and so busied herself with the mess of knitting that was sitting jumbled on her lap.

"Ladies, ladies." Miss Cackle attempted to bring a sense of order back to the conversation. "Now is not the time to take things out on each other."

"Miss Cackle is right." Imogen chipped into the conversation. "Just because you've received a little criticism, that's no excuse for taking things so personally."

Amelia smiled a heartfelt smile of thanks in Imogen's direction and turned to face the young games teacher, who was sitting cross-legged on one of the chairs across from Miss Bat.

"Thank you for your support Imogen but I'm afraid to say that you are also included in some of these letters."

"What?" Imogen uncrossed her legs and gripped the arms of the chair with both hands. "What could anyone have to complain about regarding my lessons?"

"Besides the complete lack of relevance to a witch's essential education?" Constance asked pointedly. "I can't imagine! I'm sure all the parents are over the moon that their daughters are wasting precious hours a week learning the vital life skills of hitting a small white ball up and down a field with a piece of curved wood!"

"Hockey is a good way of getting the girls to work together as a team." Imogen replied hotly, refusing to be put down by Constance's scathing remarks.

"Mmm and I'm sure one day they will be faced with a situation where they will be able to call upon the ball hitting skill and the other… non-stick related, ball hitting thing that you teach them and be eternally grateful!"

Imogen narrowed her eyes and glared at the potions teacher. She knew that it was pointless trying to argue further with Constance, she wasn't exactly world renowned for her ability to see the other side of an argument. She instead turned her attention back to Miss Cackle.

"Surely the thing to do would be to show the parents that their fears are misplaced." She suggested. "Show the parents that their daughters are getting the best possible care whilst they are here."

Miss Cackle frowned and waved the letters in Imogen's direction.

"We can't exactly invite every parent to the school. It would cause an unbearable disruption to the working day."

"I agree." Miss Hardbroom entered back into the conversation. "It would be folly to try and pander to the needs of every parent. They must understand that while their girl's are here they must trust that we will do what is best for them."

Imogen sighed; it was apparent that she was not making herself clear.

"I'm not suggesting that we should disrupt the school day. What I'm suggesting is that we should hold a parent's evening" She looked around at the blank faces of her colleagues.

Amelia waved a hand encouragingly in her direction.

"What would that entail…exactly?"

It was Imogen's turn to look a little confused.

"Surely you've had a parents evening before? I know that we haven't had one since I've been here but surely you've…" She tailed off as she realised that she was suggesting something that the school had never attempted before. She smiled and tried to wave the thought away. "It's nothing." She tried to tell them. "It's a stupid idea. Forget I said anything."

"Consider it done." Constance remarked smartly and for once Imogen was thankful for her colleagues' dry tongue. If Cackle's had never organised something like this before then Imogen really didn't fancy being the one to break new ground.

"No, no." Amelia was intrigued by Imogen's suggestion. "What happens at one of these Parent's evenings?"

Imogen weighed up the thoughts that were going through her mind, trying to decide whether or not to tell the truth. There was a very loud voice in her head telling her that she could say anything she wanted to the three people in front of her and get away with it. She could tell them that it was something really simple, something that didn't involve having all the parents traipsing through the school and looking at everything that they did with more than a measure of distain and disappointment. She looked at the folded arms and impatient stare of Constance Hardbroom and instantly came to a decision. If anyone deserved to know what it felt like to have everything she did put under the scrutiny of people who she couldn't answer back to, it was Constance.

"Parents evening is where you invite all the pupils' parents to the school to give them a chance to see what their children have achieved." Imogen announced.

"I thought we sent them out little bits of paper with letters on and that did the job?" Davina pointed out but Imogen shook her head.

"That's the end of term report card." She tried to explain the concept again for the umpteenth time to her colleague. "This is something different. This is a chance for the parents to actually meet us and look around the place and get the opportunity to actually see the work that their daughters are doing."

"What!" Constance's voice shot up an octave. "You actually want to encourage the parents to come here. You want to have them here, spying on our every move?" She shook her head vigorously. "Absolutely not. It's a ridiculous suggestion. It's like volunteering oneself for an Ofwitch inspection; only the inspection would be carried out by a bunch of untrained, unskilled individuals who wouldn't know what they were looking for."

"Much like the real thing in fact." Davina remarked, but as usual was ignored.

"Mmmm." Miss Cackle thought over the idea. "And what would we have to do to prepare for one of these 'Parent's evenings'?"

"Miss Cackle!" Constance complained but was ignored.

"That's the beauty of them." Imogen explained, enjoying the way that Constance was looking more and more uncomfortable. "The parents will come in and look at the work that their daughters do, we talk to them about their offspring and that's all they really expect. It shouldn't cost the school a penny."

"Should we put on a show?" Davina piped up; the enthusiasm in her voice causing her to drop several stitches.

Miss Cackle frowned and her glasses dropped an inch further down her nose.

"I doubt we'd have the time to prepare anything Davina."

"Certainly not anything that any parent would actually want to hear." Constance remarked acidly. "I for one think that this whole idea is ridiculous. If you let the parents in here there'll be no stopping their interference; you mark my words. They'll want to know everything that's going on here and before you know it you'll have to get permission before you can turn pupils into elements, or frogs, or anything else remotely interesting for that matter, and they'll will start demanding to be kept appraised of every little thing that their child does. It's a step on a road that can only lead to trouble and I think we should think carefully before embarking on anything that could end the way that Cackle's operates."

There was a pause as the other teachers in the room stared open-mouthed at Constance, trying to take in everything that she had said.

Imogen was the first to recover. She shook her head and forced her mind to move on past the fact that Constance had just uttered more words in a single breath than was humanly possible.

"It's just a chance for us to meet the parents Constance."

Constance harrumphed in response and was about to turn and direct her anger out at the world beyond when a thought struck her.

"By parents, do I assume that you are referring to two individuals?"

Imogen nodded.

"In most cases, yes."

"So that would mean that we'd be inviting **men** into the school?" There was a thoroughly disapproving tone to her voice.

"As I said before, in most cases, yes."

"Obviously we're not including Beverley Blackthorn's situation at this particular time?" Davina chipped in.

Constance did her best to ignore what she regarded as the incessant prattling of the chanting teacher, and concentrated her energies on trying to talk some sense into the head teacher.

"Miss Cackle I must protest in the strongest terms at the very idea of opening up these hallowed halls of learning to the heavy, unmagical tread of so many… men." She spat the final word out with as much distaste as she could muster. Permitting wizards into the school was one thing and heaven knew that they were bad enough, but at least they had a rudimentary grasp of the concept of magic. What Miss Drill was suggesting would result in untrained, unwashed hordes of fathers tramping through the corridors and upsetting the delicate web of magic that permeated the walls. She, for one, was not about to let that happen without a fight.

Not for the first time Imogen was surprised at the amount of vitriol that her colleague could direct towards the male of the species. She had to confess that it was times like this that made her want to look into Constance's past; there had to be something there that explained her unequivocal hatred of men. She realised that Constance had caught her staring and she quickly tried to keep the conversation going.

"Constance I hardly think that having parents within the castle walls for two hours will cause the foundations of the building to disintegrate."

Constance raised her eyebrows and shot Imogen a withering glance.

She was about to open her mouth and tell Imogen exactly what she thought but Miss Cackle beat her to the punch.

"Well I think it's a splendid idea Imogen." She beamed in the direction of the P.E teacher. "It's a perfect chance to get everyone together and to put to rest all those niggling little worries that the parents have."

She looked round at the other teachers. "I can't believe we haven't done this sort of thing before."

"Miss Cackle…" Constance tried to protest but Amelia raised her hand to silence her deputy.

"I think Imogen has come up with a wonderful suggestion that will help to solve all the problems I've been having with unhappy parents. We'll hold a special assembly tomorrow morning and make the announcement to the school."

Imogen met Miss Cackle's glance and smiled happily. It wasn't often that she had the opportunity to affect school life directly. As a non-witch she usually felt excluded from most of the important decisions regarding school life. This was one positive contribution that she could make and she was determined that it was going to go off as smoothly and successfully as possible. She caught the look of annoyance on Constance's face and her smile grew wider. There were days when life just seemed as though it couldn't get better. Whatever she had to do, she was determined that parent's evening was going to be a night for Cackle's to remember for years to come.


	2. Chapter 2

_This is slightly shorter than normal but there should be more on the way, I've just got some checking and rewrites to do. Many thanks for the reviews, it's lovely to know that people are reading and enjoying things so far._

* * *

Mildred was bursting with excitement as the doors to the Great Hall were opened and she was finally allowed to talk freely to her friends. The atmosphere around her was electric as all the girls began to chatter in the corridor about the news that had just been announced.

"I can't believe it." She said breathlessly. "Imagine being able to have your parents here for an evening." She beamed at the faces of the girls around her. "I've told my mum about this place so many times but I don't think she's ever really understood what I was saying. I can't wait for her to actually see it for herself."

"I doubt they'll let her in." Ethel sneered as she walked past Mildred's little group. "It's taken years for them to let one non-witch into the school. I can't see them falling over themselves to let another Hubble in though the gates."

"Mildred's not the only non-witch in the school." Maud reminded Ethel. "Miss Drill's not a witch, and then there's Mr Blossom and Mrs Tapioca."

"Alright, alright." Ethel snapped. "But there's only one pupil who isn't a proper witch." Ethel looked Mildred up and down. "Are you really sure you want your parents to realise what a complete and utter failure you are?"

"Just shut up Ethel." Enid stepped between the two girls. "I can't imagine that your parents will be all that pleased to find out that you're not exactly living up to the standards set by your predecessors… unless they were all spineless, backstabbing bitches as well."

Ethel opened her mouth to deliver a stinging response but the group was broken up by the arrival of Miss Hardbroom, who ghosted up behind the group without them hearing her.

"Do I take it that some new rule has been passed that permits loitering and gossiping in the corridors?" She glared at each of the girls in turn daring any of them to say anything. "No new rule?" She asked again. "Well in that case I can't understand why any of you are standing around in the corridor as though you had nothing better to do." She fixed her gaze on Mildred. "I know for a fact that some of you have a potions test to revise for."

"Sorry Miss Hardbroom." Mildred apologised. "We were just talking…"

"I was well aware of that Mildred." Constance cut across Mildred's explanation. "And if your sentence continues on and contains the words 'parent's evening' then I can assure you that things will not end well."

"Sorry Miss." Mildred apologised.

"Well move along then girls." She ushered them along the corridor. "You may feel as though you have all the time in the world, but I can assure you that lessons will begin at their normal time." She looked at the retreating backs of the girls as they slowly moved off. "There will be detention for any girl who fails to be in her appointed seat at the start of the lesson and I'm sure you'd all like to know that there is approximately 30 seconds until lessons start."

The corners of Constance's mouth twitched as she watched the girls break into a run.

"No running in the corridors." She reminded them sternly before disappearing into thin air.

* * *

Miss Drill was the first to reach the staff room at morning break. Rain had been falling heavily since the early hours of the morning and that had put paid to the cross-country run that she'd planned. She'd been happy to take the girls out but Miss Cackle had vetoed the idea. With the amount of work that had to be done to get parent's evening organised, the last thing she'd wanted was for the 1st years to be struck down with colds. Imogen had tried to get the girls to exercise in the Great Hall but the rain hammering down from outside had had its usual distracting effect and the girls were hard to keep focussed. 

Feeling as though she had earned something stronger than fruit tea, she selected her cup from the tray and popped a lemon and ginger teabag into it. She breathed in the aroma as she added water to the cup and wondered whether it was worth trying again to persuade the others to try a mug. She'd attempted to convert them all to fruit tea when she first arrived at the school but the suggestion had not met with much success. Miss Cackle had smiled kindly at her but politely refused; Miss Bat had simply looked at her as though she were crazy. Whilst it appeared that she thought it perfectly normal to put flowers into tea, she was horrified at the thought of doing the same to fruit. Miss Hardbroom had not deemed it necessary to respond to the suggestion at all and had simply made her own tea and retired to her normal position by the fireplace.

Imogen wondered briefly if it was ever possible to change the views of her colleagues. They all seemed so set in their ways when it came to most things. Imogen settled herself into her usual chair and waited for the others to arrive.

Miss Hardbroom was next through the door. She swept into the room and proceeded to make her way to the urn as she usually did.

Imogen watched her as she moved and wondered, not for the first time, if her colleague knew how to cross a room without drawing everyone's attention to her movements. Whilst she had frequently been in a room for minutes before noticing that Miss Bat was present, the same could not be said of Constance. She was always a definite presence wherever she was; Imogen wondered just how she managed it. It wasn't just her height; there was something in her bearing that meant that everyone immediately gave her their full attention. Plus there was ever present jangle from the keys that hung from her waist. It struck Imogen that she had never actually seen her colleague use one of the many keys that she seemed to carry around permanently with her. She wondered if they actually opened anything, or whether she just wore them as a kind of badge of office?

As if sensing that she was being watched, Constance turned her head towards Imogen.

"Was there something you wanted?"

Imogen shook her head.

"I'm sorry." She searched desperately for something to say, to disguise the fact that she'd been caught staring. "I was just wondering if you'd had any thoughts about parent's evening; Miss Cackle was saying that perhaps some of your pupils should carry out a potions demonstration."

Miss Hardbroom harrumphed at the very mention of the words parent's evening and, leaving her cup of tea forgotten; she straightened up and faced Imogen.

"It may be down to Miss Cackle's laissez faire attitude towards discipline that this pantomime of a parent's evening is going ahead but I refuse to allow my pupils or my subject to be treated as though it was some kind of sideshow, or street entertainment. Potion-making is a serious business; I am not prepared to let the subject that I have dedicated my life to be turned into light-hearted entertainment to be gawked at by the parents of our current intake."

Imogen had been expecting a negative response from Constance but what she hadn't allowed for was the amount of vitriol in her colleague's reply.

"No-one's trying to turn your subject into a side show." She protested. "We just thought it would be nice for the parents to get a chance to see in practice the work that their daughters have been doing this term."

"Oh you thought it would be 'nice'! Well I guess that makes it alright then." Constance folded her arms and glared down at Imogen. "Potion-making is not a spectator sport, it has never been a form of public entertainment, and as long as I remain at this school, it never shall be. Things may be different in the schools you taught in previously but at Cackles', at a witch's school, we do not set up our pupils to act as performing seals. The skills they learn here may one day save their lives."

Imogen fought for something to say by way of response to Constance's outburst, but she was somewhat at a loss for words.

"I know that you are relatively new here." Constance's tone lost the venom it had previously held as she sought to explain herself more fully. "And I understand that you may still want to try and justify your presence here by coming up with suggestions of things we could do. I'd just like you to remember that we are not like other schools; our pupils are not the same as other girls, and therefore we do tend to do things differently. Whilst parent's evenings may have their place in the mainstream, they certainly have no place here."

Imogen's mouth dropped open as she struggled to contain her temper.

"Justify my presence…Why on earth should I feel the need to justify my presence here?"

Constance picked at an invisible speck of dust on her dress.

"I would have thought that was obvious."

Imogen rose to her feet and glared at Constance, barely managing to contain her anger.

"Now listen here, I have as much right to be here as you do, my subject is equally as valid as yours…"

"And yet you're the one who feels the need to stand there and bawl at me as though you were a common fishwife. A definite sign of insecurity I'd say." Constance replied flatly.

The argument was saved from escalating further by the appearance of Miss Bat. She breezed into the room, humming quietly to herself.

"Afternoon everyone." She beamed at the two women, completely oblivious to the brittle atmosphere in the air and made her way over to her usual chair, where she busied herself with her tangle of knitting.

"If you'll excuse me." Constance nodded her head slightly and, turning on her heel, swept from the room, the door shutting behind her with a gentle swish.

Imogen glared at the closed door for a few moments before throwing herself into a chair and folding her arms across her chest. Miss Bat raised her head from her knitting and regarded her colleague.

"Something wrong?"

Imogen took a few deep breaths and tried to rein her temper in.

"It's that woman." She hissed through gritted teeth. "Why does she have to always come down on anything I suggest?"

Davina tilted her head to one side as though considering the matter.

"Don't let Constance get to you." She finally advised. "She's just against anything that might accidentally result in the girls having a good time."

"But she called me insecure." Imogen's voice was shaking with anger. "Me… Insecure! What about her? She's the one who's paranoid about the march of progress. Give her a chance and I'm sure she'd spend the rest of her life in some kind of splendid isolation, where the chalkboard was the latest advance in modern technology."

Davina smiled nervously, glancing briefly in the direction of the stationary cupboard as though debating whether she should head for cover or not; confrontations this early in the day were not her cup of tea. Imogen recognised the look and attempted to calm her temper.

"I know that she's only got the interests of the girls at heart but there are times when she frustrates me no end." Imogen sat forward in the chair; her attention fully fixed on Davina and placed her hands on her knees. "You've been at Cackle's a long time, haven't you?"

"Asking a witch her age is not polite." Davina flustered and pulled her shawl around her shoulders.

Imogen raised her hands to try to convince her colleague that she wasn't trying to pry.

"I was just wondering if you were here when Constance arrived. She's been here for a few years now, hasn't she?"

Davina eyed Imogen suspiciously, as if trying to decide on whether or not she was telling the truth.

"She's certainly become something of a fixture." Davina finally admitted.

Imogen leant forward a little more, wanting to hear every word that Davina said.

"What was she like when she first came here? Surely she hasn't always been this strict and dead set against change?"

Davina set her knitting down on her lap as she considered the question.

"You know I can't remember." She finally admitted. She watched as Imogen sank back despondently into her chair. "You're really interested in this, aren't you?"

Imogen shrugged her shoulders.

"She's always the first to come down on me whenever I come up with an idea; I just wanted to know what she was like when she first started work."

Davina looked around the room, as though checking that she couldn't be overheard. When she was satisfied that they were alone, she beckoned Imogen forward.

"Miss Cackle is bound to have records in her office."

Imogen pulled a face.

"I don't want to risk upsetting Miss Cackle and I don't think it's likely that Constance has let Miss Cackle keep anything that isn't complimentary."

Davina pulled a face.

"I guess you're right." She picked up her knitting and the silence in the room was filled for a few seconds with the sound of the needles clacking together. "There's always Beatrice at the WTS." She announced suddenly.

Imogen suppressed a sigh of frustration. Getting information out of Davina was never a straightforward affair.

"Who is Beatrice and what is the WTS?"

Davina dropped her knitting onto her lap and rolled her eyes, making it clear that she couldn't believe Imogen's ignorance.

"Beatrice is a good friend of mine. We used to teach together before I came here. And the WTS? That's the exalted Witch Training School." She extracted a needle from her knitting and waved it in Imogen's direction. "Not everyone who goes to the WTS gets through you know; they're quite tough."

Imogen chewed her lip thoughtfully.

"Do you think Beatrice could have a look in the records…"

"Well of course she could!" Davina cut across Imogen's question. "She's free to go wherever she wants; the library, the staff room, the teacher's toilets. She's a respected member of the staff there, not some wet behind the ears student."

Imogen let out a sigh.

"What I was going to say was do you think she could look in the records for **me**?"

Davina narrowed her eyes.

"Are you thinking of checking up on Constance?"

Imogen took in the frown on Davina's face.

"Well… not if you think that it's a bad idea." She stated cautiously.

"Bad idea? Bad idea?" Davina echoed as her face broke into a wide grin. "I think it's a fabulous idea!" She rose to her feet, her knitting falling to the floor. She grabbed hold of Imogen's hands and pulled the younger woman to her feet. "This is going to be wonderful. It's about time we found out what 'Little Miss Bossy Boots' was like before she got here."

Imogen let herself be led around the room by Davina and wondered whether she might just have made a big mistake.


	3. Chapter 3

_As always, thank you for the reviews. It's great to see that there's a sudden resurgence of WW fics on here. Long may it continue._

* * *

Mildred stared at the textbook that lay on the bed in front of her and tried for the umpteenth time to make the information on the page sink in. She was halfway through reading a paragraph about the optimum weather conditions for collecting henbane, when she realised that she wasn't actually taking any of it in. Every time she reached the third line where it started talking about high-pressure fronts, she found that her mind kept wondering off and she'd end up thinking about the upcoming parent's evening instead.

She shook her head and tried to clear her thoughts. The potions test the next day was about herbs, not parent's evening. It wouldn't do her any good to get further into HB's bad books. For the past week, ever since the evening had been announced, she'd seemed to get herself into nothing but trouble with HB. There had been the incident with the enlarging potion and the frogs, and then the little accident with the invisibility potion. Quite how HB expected her to wash the potion out of a cloak when she couldn't even see the thing was beyond her, but that was her task and she knew she'd have to tackle the problem in the morning…assuming she could find the cloak again.

She raised her head from her textbook as she heard a gentle tap on her door.

"Come in." She called out, pleased to have another distraction from her work.

The door creaked open slowly and Maud poked her head around the gap.

"Have you finished revising?"

Mildred groaned and looked down at the thick textbook that lay on the bed. If she was honest with herself, she wasn't sure that she'd ever be finished with the potions textbook. As fast as she read the pages, knowledge seemed to fall out of the other side of her head. She let the book close with a heavy thump, waking Tabby from where he'd been curled up in the middle of the bed. He regarded her with a mournful expression and then set about cleaning his paws. Mildred patted his head apologetically and motioned for Maud to enter.

Maud took up a place on the end of the bed and Mildred immediately noted the less than happy expression on her friend's face.

"What's up?"

"My parents aren't going to be able to make it to parent's evening." She announced glumly. "My dad's away with business and my mum's gone with him." She leant forward and tickled Tabby behind the ears. "I don't want to be the only one who doesn't have their parent at parent's night."

"Well I doubt Miss Cackle will be bringing her parents." Mildred tried to make light of the situation. "And we all know that HB was born in a test tube and doesn't have any."

Maud sighed heavily and Mildred realised that her attempts at cheering her friend up were falling short of the mark.

"I'm sorry." She told her friend sincerely. "I really wish they'd been able to make it, I like your mum."

Maud looked up and regarded Mildred with a suspicious look.

"Even when she makes you complete a spell before you can have dessert?"

Mildred smiled at the memory of the last time she'd visited Maud's for a couple of days.

"Even when she makes you complete a spell before dessert." Mildred confirmed before glancing guiltily at her friend. "Did your mum ever manage to shift the stain?"

Maud nodded.

"It took her a few attempts but, as I reminded her, it was her fault as she was attempting to make us use our magic for trivial things."

Mildred smirked; pleased to hear that her mishap hadn't caused her name to be cursed in the Moonshine household.

"I never knew that custard could be that volatile." She admitted.

Maud smiled at her own memories of the occasion. She'd spent time before Mildred's arrival telling her mother that Mildred wasn't from a magical background and therefore hadn't been exposed to magic all her life, but she didn't think that the information had really sunk in. Her mother had found it hard not to expect Mildred to know the little tricks that she'd been taught whilst still a toddler.

"I've got an idea." Mildred broke across her friend's thoughts. Maud looked up to see her friend grinning at her.

"What is it?" She tried to keep the trepidation from her voice, but after knowing Mildred for two years, it was hard not to feel a little fear whenever Mildred announced that she had an idea.

"Why don't you adopt my parents for the evening?" Mildred suggested enthusiastically. "They've met you plenty of times and I know that they like you."

"I can't do that." Maud replied, secretly pleased with the idea.

"Of course you can." Mildred insisted. "I'll send them a letter tomorrow and let them know…or we could try and sneak out to Cosies so that I can ring them."

Maud held up her hands.

"I think a letter is the safer option. You don't want to get detention and have to miss the evening entirely."

"Good point." Mildred conceded. With a heavy sigh, she turned her attention back to the potions textbook. "I don't suppose you fancy helping me with this, do you?"

Maud smiled.

"Pass it here. Let's see what we can do."

* * *

"The whole thing is just going to be terrible." Enid complained bitterly as she sat down to breakfast with her friends the next morning. "I had a letter back from my parents and they're really keen to come along to parent's night. They think it's a 'great idea'." Enid made quotation marks in the air with her fingers.

"What's wrong with that?" Maud wanted to know, as she stirred the porridge that was slowly congealing in the bowl in front of her. "I wish my parents were able to make it."

"Yeah but if your parents were coming they wouldn't be bringing along a seven year old bratty brother with them would they?"

"Ahh." Maud grimaced, as she persuaded her spoon to stand upright in the bowl. "So you didn't manage to convince them that brother's weren't allowed?"

"Obviously not."

"What did you tell them?" Mildred wanted to know. She had been aware of Enid's plan to prevent her parents bringing her brother to parent's night but Enid had never revealed the details to her.

"I told my parents that HB ate small boys. Either that or she turned them into toads on sight."

Mildred let out a laugh and a fraction of a second later Miss Hardbroom materialised by her side, a frown on her face. Frivolity at the breakfast table was one of the many things that she didn't tolerate.

"Something you find particularly amusing about the porridge this morning?" She enquired coldly. "Did you perhaps find a lump that resembled a fellow pupil or perhaps you've finally completed the potions test I set you last week and finally managed to create a laughing potion from scratch?"

"No Miss Hardbroom… I mean yes Miss Hardbroom." Mildred stammered. HB's appearances from out of the ether always set her on edge. "I mean I did manage to complete the laughing potion." Mildred took in the raised eyebrow of her teacher and swallowed hard. "It's not here though Miss, it's in my room."

"Well I'm sure that's a relief."

"I'm sorry for laughing Miss. It was just something that Enid said." Mildred felt her heart sink as soon as she finished the sentence. She really hadn't meant to get Enid into trouble but HB had made her get all flustered.

HB turned her attention towards Enid.

"And prey tell, just what was it that sent Mildred here off into the realms of hysteria?"

"It was nothing Miss." Enid replied quickly.

"It was nothing Miss." Miss Hardbroom repeated and turned her attention back to Mildred. "Mildred, in the two years I have had the misfortune of knowing you I cannot recall a single incident of you laughing at nothing. You have laughed at the misfortunes of others, at the 1st years attempting an a cappella version of 'Eye of Toad' and you made the unwise decision to laugh at the Chief Wizard when that gust of wind blew up his robe last Easter." Miss Hardbroom glared at the small group around the table and dared any of them to snigger at the things she was listing. She watched as Jadu struggled to keep a straight face. "Jadu Wali, if you don't get that smile off your face you will be writing out lines until the end of the day." Satisfied that Jadu wasn't going to laugh, she returned her attention to Mildred. "Need I go on?"

"No Miss." Mildred told her in as serious a tone as she could muster; the image of the Chief Wizard in a flap was making an unwelcome appearance in her mind and she couldn't shake it.

"Then perhaps you would do me the courtesy of telling me what it was that was causing you to make that appalling noise a few moments ago."

Mildred looked around for inspiration.

"I was er…I was… Well it was …."

Miss Hardbroom rolled her eyes and held up a hand.

"Seeing as you are finding it so hard to recall the cause of your outburst perhaps you would benefit from spending an hour this evening in the potions lab, writing out 200 times ' I must not squawk like an animal in pain whilst on school premises'." Constance cast an eye over the rest of the group. "Are there any other takers for this evening's little get together? Good. Now I don't expect to hear another word from any of you."

Satisfied that order had been restored; Constance folded her arms and disappeared.

"Thanks Millie!" Enid remarked sarcastically. "You nearly landed me in it there."

"Sorry." Mildred apologised meekly.

"You weren't the one that ended up with detention." Maud pointed out.

"True." Enid conceded. "But I do wish you'd be a bit more careful. I can just imagine that HB is looking for some excuse to cancel parent's evening."

"Why would she be against it?" Ruby asked. "Surely it's her chance to tell the parents exactly what she thinks of us."

"True." Enid conceded. "But this place isn't going to be all quiet and orderly, is it? It's going to be full of us and parents."

"Non-magical people in the school." Mildred reminded the others. "What's she going to make of everyone's dads?"

"Toads?" Maud suggested with a laugh and the others soon joined in.

* * *

Amelia picked up the first of the invitations that were to be sent out in the next post. She smiled proudly as she always did when she looked at the headed card. She had to admit to herself that there was something intensely satisfying about seeing the name of one's own school embossed on a piece of card. For her own peace of mind, she checked the information that was printed on the card again. She'd spent ages with Miss Drill, making sure that the wording was perfect. She knew of course that the pupils had already informed their parents about the forthcoming parent's evening, but she just wanted things to be perfect. She felt that sending out personal invitations was demonstrating the seriousness she felt about the evening.

She was distracted from her reading by a sharp tap on the door.

"Come in Constance." She called out, certain that her deputy would be the one waiting on the other side of the door. Moments later the door opened and Constance crossed the threshold.

"I've brought you copies of the predicted grades for the 2nd years, as you requested." Her tone made it perfectly clear what she thought about predicted grades.

Amelia's face formed into a frown as she watched her colleague stride across the room and drop the sheets of paper on her desk. Just once, she wanted Constance to ask how she knew who it was who was at the door, but Constance being Constance, even if she was unsure how it was done, was never likely to ask.

"Are these the little cards that are costing me a trip to Hags and Horrocks?"

Amelia raised her eyes and then frowned as she saw one of the cards held between the thumb and forefinger of Constance's right hand as though it was something distasteful.

"They haven't cost that much." Amelia countered, promising herself that she wasn't going to be drawn into an argument on the subject.

"What exactly are 'nobbles'?" Constance's voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"What?"

Constance let the card she was holding slip through her fingers and it dropped to the desk.

"According to this card, you are offering parents the chance to look through their children's work and then sit down with a few 'nobbles' and 'discus' the issue."

"What?" Amelia pounced on the dropped card and scrutinised it carefully. Her face dropped in dismay as she spotted the two spelling mistakes.

"This is impossible." She protested. "I had the original proofread before it was sent for printing."

Constance pulled a face and picked up another card. She moved to stand by the window and held the card up to the light. Amelia was too busy staring despondently at the card in her own hand to notice the actions of her deputy.

"This is a disaster." She stated mournfully. "There's no time to get them all reprinted and I can hardly send them out as they are."

"True, true." Constance agreed. "If this were indeed a printing error, it would be something of an embarrassing incident."

"What?" Amelia turned in her seat and regarded Constance who was scrutinising one of the cards.

"There was no mistake on the original." Constance announced calmly and Amelia flapped her arms in frustration.

"That's what I said."

"But there has been some change to the cards since their printing." Constance continued with her findings, ignoring the flap that Miss Cackle seemed to have gotten herself into.

"What?"

Constance rolled her eyes as Miss Cackle once again responded to a piece of information with the same one word question. If a pupil in one of her classes had had the temerity to respond in such a manner then they would have been set 200 lines in an attempt to teach them that the English language was a rich and varied subject and that there was never an excuse for responding with the word 'what'.

As if realising that she was wondering onto dangerous ground with her deputy, Amelia amended her response.

"What sort of a change has been made?"

A smug smile appeared briefly on Constance's face.

"It would appear that some enterprising pupil has been trying out a text altering spell." Constance held the card up to the light again. "I have to say that it's a pretty good job."

Amelia used a finger to push her glasses further up her nose before she re-inspected the card that she held in her hand. She had to confess that she couldn't spot any sign of tampering, magical or otherwise.

Constance lowered the card and turned her attention to Amelia.

"Would you like me to repair the damage?"

Amelia squinted again and tried to see where the join between the original and the magical was.

"If you can see where the changes need to be made."

"Naturally." Constance replied, with a tone that suggested that she believed that everyone should be able to spot where the problems lay.

Amelia did her best to ignore the tone and raised her head to meet Constance's gaze and indicated that her deputy should proceed.

Constance placed the card she was holding back on the top of the pile and clenched and un-clenched her fists, letting her fingers stretch out and prepare themselves for work.

Amelia watched the stack of cards intently as Constance cast her reversing spell. She had to confess that she was holding her breath. Casting undo spells on printed material was never easy; over do the spell and the ink would disappear from the card entirely; get it really wrong and the room would be swamped beneath the boughs of a tree.

She let her breath out a few seconds later as she watched the text on the card return to the spelling that she had originally seen on the proof copy.

"I wonder just which enterprising young mind saw fit to try this?" Constance enquired.

Amelia shrugged her shoulders.

"I can't see why anyone would want to do it."

"Why does any young witch delight in casting spells they are not supposed to?" Constance began. "They do it because they want to test the system or they want to impress their friends." She paused briefly and let that information sink in before she continued. "And who at Cackle's is always looking to impress her friends?"

"I don't think that you can lay this at Mildred Hubble's door." Miss Cackle protested.

"I did tell you that I caught her in the corridor in an altercation with Ethel Hallow." Constance pointed out but Miss Cackle was not to be swayed.

"You said yourself that the text altering was done well. I can assure you that the last time I saw Mildred's attempts at text altering, the results were definitely less than satisfactory."

Constance 'Hhmmed' in response and turned to stare out of the window.

"So what are we going to do about this?" She asked finally.

Miss Cackle looked puzzled for a moment.

"I think we can leave things as they are. After all at the end of the day, no harm was done."

"No harm was done!"

Amelia winced as Constance's voice shot up an octave.

"No harm." Constance continued. "There was a deliberate attempt to sabotage the smooth running of the evening and you don't think that that deserves investigating?"

Amelia sighed; when Constance put things like that, it was hard to argue with her.

After a second, she smiled inwardly. If she was honest, it was always hard to argue with Constance, whatever the topic.

"I think that the important thing is that we…you" She amended, hearing a sharp intake of breath from her colleague. "You spotted the mistake and everything has been sorted out. I feel that making an issue out of it would only serve to give publicity to the culprit."

The look on Constance's face told Amelia everything she needed to know about her colleagues' view of the subject.

"If someone is trying to disrupt the evening then I think it would be wise if were all on our toes." Constance pointed out. "They're bound to try something else."

"I can't think for the life of me why anyone would be against the evening, or would want to…" Amelia's voice faltered as she remembered who she was talking to.

"There are some girls within this school who don't seem to need a reason to cause trouble; it follows them around like a bad smell." Constance remarked, seemingly missing the inference that Amelia had just made. "I'm going to be keeping a close eye on the girls over the coming days; one step out of line and I'm going to make them wish that they'd never been born."

Amelia closed her eyes and took a deep breath; despite herself, she felt a pang of sympathy for whoever the guilty party was.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Glad that the jokes are hitting the spot; it's always hard to guess which ones are going to work. This is a shorter part than normal but there is a longer part on the way.**_

* * *

Constance took her customary place at the front of the potions lab and glared at the assembled 2nd years. There was a silent sigh from within as she took in the way that they all sat slouched at their desks. In her day the entire class would have been put in detention if their posture wasn't just so. Standards, it appeared, were slipping in every avenue of school life.

"Sit up girls." She instructed them and they all dutifully obeyed, although Constance noted that it took some longer than others to follow her commands. She glared at the offending pupils before speaking again.

"Before we begin this morning, I want to have a little chat with you all about the upcoming parent's evening."

Constance raised a hand, as there was an outbreak of whispering.

"When I said a little chat, I meant that I would be speaking, not that you would all be whispering behind your hands like a group of primary school children." She fixed the group with a stern glare and within moments the room was silent. "Thank you." She acknowledged. "It has come to my attention that there appears to be an individual, or group of individuals who would rather that the parent's evening did not take place." Constance leant forward and placed her elbows on the desk, steepling her fingers and regarding the class with a stern expression. "Whatever your own personal opinion on the merits of gathering one's parents together within the walls of the school, it is not acceptable behaviour to attempt to disrupt the preparations." Constance paused and cast her eyes around the room, making sure that she made eye contact with everyone. "Am I making myself clear?"

"Who's trying to disrupt parent's evening?" Maud asked, slightly stunned at the revelation.

"The details are not important Maud Moonshine." Constance told her quickly. "What is important is the message that goes out, that we are not going to tolerate it. Is that clear?"

"Yes Miss." Maud shrank back in her seat under the piercing gaze of her potions teacher.

Constance let her eyes sweep the room again and made sure that everyone understood the seriousness of the situation.

"Right." She straightened up and turned towards the blackboard. "I hope that all of you have read chapter five, as today we will all be attempting to move small objects with the use of a transporting potion."

* * *

"What do you make of what HB said about someone trying to sabotage parent's evening?" Maud enquired as the girls gathered in Mildred's room as soon as the morning classes were over.

Mildred pulled on her plaits as she tried to put her thoughts into words.

"I've not seen any evidence of anyone trying to sabotage the evening." She admitted finally.

"Who'd want to?" Jadu asked as she settled herself down at Mildred's desk. "It's not as though it's something to be scared of."

"There's nothing they can tell my parents that's not already in my school report." Enid stated flatly as she folded her arms and leant back against the wall.

Maud turned to face her, a slightly puzzled expression on her face.

"But you were against the idea at breakfast." She pointed out. "You were the one who stated that it was going to be horrible."

Enid pulled a face.

"I might not want my parents to drag my little brother with them, but I wouldn't do anything to get the evening called off."

"Wouldn't you?" Maud pushed her thought further. "Who was it who cast that deflating spell on the volleyballs to try and get us out of playing a match last term? And who ducked out of Miss Cackle's birthday celebrations on her first week here?"

"That was different." Enid pushed herself away from the wall, anger written on her face. "I said I didn't do it and I meant it. Are you calling me a liar Maud Moonshine?"

"I'm sure she's not." Mildred tried to calm the situation before it got out of hand. "You're not are you Maud?"

"Of course not." Maud was surprised by the vehemence in Enid's reply. "I was just thinking that you were the one most likely to carry out a prank of some sort." She smiled at her friend. "I didn't mean to upset you."

Enid waved the apology away.

"Sorry Maud, I guess I am a little on edge at the prospect of my parents coming to the school." She looked round at the others. "But that doesn't mean that I'd try and get the evening called off."

"That still doesn't answer the question of who's behind…" Mildred paused as she realised that she had no real idea of what it was that had been done. "Behind whatever it was that HB was hinting at earlier."

"Perhaps it was Ethel?" Enid suggested but then shook her head. "Forget I said that. If there's one person that can't wait to show off to her parents then that's Ethel."

Maud rolled her eyes.

"She's going to be unbearable. She'll be swaning around all evening, talking in an overly loud voice about the number of Hallows that have been to the school."

"I'm going to try and keep my parents away from her." Mildred confessed. "If Ethel's mother is anything like her…" She let the sentence drop away, not needing to complete the thought.

"What about Sybil?"

All the girls turned to look at Jadu who was idly twirling one of Mildred's pens between her fingers.

"What about Sybil?" Maud finally prompted when Jadu made no attempt to provide any more details.

"When Sybil first started here, Ethel made a real effort to stop us finding out that Sybil was her sister. Perhaps she's equally as embarrassed about her mother?"

"You think Ethel's mother could be another cry-baby like Sybil?" Enid mused. "If that's true then maybe Ethel is the one we should be watching."

The girls exchanged glances.

"It's a mystery all right." Mildred commented. "I suggest that we all keep our eyes open and see if we can't find out who it is."

"And work out whatever it is they're up to." Jadu agreed and frowned as the pen she was twirling fell out of her grip and tumbled to the floor.

"If they're determined, then we might not be able to stop them." Ruby pointed out but Mildred shook her head.

"We've got to stop them; I really want my parents to get the chance to see the school properly. I keep trying to explain it to them, trying to tell them just how different it is from what they think it's like, but I don't think that they really understand."

"Aren't you worried that they'll take one look at HB in action and demand that you go somewhere normal?" Enid grinned.

Mildred's face broke into a smile as she tried to picture HB being nice and friendly.

"I wonder what she's going to be like to the parents? I can't imagine her smiling and being all welcoming."

Enid's face widened into a smile.

"She's more likely to put a barricade spell on the potions lab and not come out until it's all over."

"Fenny told me that got in a shouting match with Miss Drill about it." Jadu revealed to the others. "She said that she was passing the staff room and she heard HB laying into Miss Drill about what a bad idea parent's evening was."

"Perhaps HB is the one who's trying to get the evening called off?" Maud suggested but Mildred shook her head.

"But it was HB who told us not to do anything to jeopardise it. I can't imagine HB doing anything subversive."

Ruby smiled.

"It would probably cause her to short circuit if she tried to break a rule or do something that wasn't approved by the witch's code."

Enid sniggered.

"God she must have been really irritating as a child. I bet she was a class sneak like Ethel. All 'yes Miss, no Miss, can I clean the blackboard for you Miss'."

"I can't imagine her in anything other than those long dark dresses." Ruby confessed. "Can you imagine HB in a school uniform?"

There was a brief pause as everyone tried to conjure up a mental image. The silence was quickly followed by laughter. Eventually Mildred found her voice.

"It'd have to be black." She decided. "I can't imagine HB wearing anything with much colour in."

"Poor Miss Drill though." Maud sympathised, thinking back to what Ruby had said. "I bet HB always puts her ideas down."

"HB puts down any idea that isn't hers." Enid muttered. "I bet that if she had her way, the word 'fun' would be taken out of the dictionary."

"I'm surprised the evening's going ahead if Miss Hardbroom's so dead set against it." Ruby admitted. "I wouldn't want to be the one who had to stand there and tell her."

Jadu smiled.

"Do you think Miss Cackle casts some sort of protection spell on herself?"

"HB must have been fuming." Mildred agreed. "I can't see her be happy at the thought of so many parents walking through the lab."

"But you don't think that she'd do anything to get the evening cancelled?" Maud queried. Mildred shook her head.

"I can see her standing there, all arms folded and steely-eyed ranting about the fabric of the world being destroyed, but I can't imagine her doing anything so devious as sabotage. For HB it would have to be something that left you in no doubt that it was her that did it."

"I suppose."

"Do you think we should do something to try and find out who's behind the…whatever it is?" Mildred persisted. "I don't want to miss out on parent's night."

"What would we be looking for though?" Jadu pointed out. "We don't even know what it is that's happened?"

"Well I think we should keep our eyes open anyway."

"Okay, okay." Maud smiled and patted her friend on the arm. "We'll keep our eyes open for the mysterious parent's evening cancelling bandit."

* * *

Imogen settled down into the most comfortable chair in the staff room and let out a long, heavy sigh. There were times when she questioned the wisdom in trying to teach painfully uncoordinated pupils a sport that involved a fairly high degree of hand / eye coordination. She leant forward and rubbed at one of the more painful bruises on her shin. Next time she took the 1st years for hockey, she was determined to remember to wear her shin pads.

She was about to lose herself in the latest magazine Serge had sent her about backpacking holidays in the Pyrenees, when she became aware of a low, persistent, hissing sound.

She placed the unread magazine down on the table next to her and leant forward in her seat, trying to work out the source of the noise.

"Over here." A voice hissed at her.

Recognising the low tones of Davina Bat, Imogen turned her attention to the Chanting teacher's usual hiding place. Sure enough, the door to the stationary cupboard was open an inch and a hand was poking through the gap, beckoning her forward.

"What is it Davina?" Imogen decided that she was too tired to indulge Davina this afternoon.

"Over here." Davina repeated, seemingly unwilling to leave the security of the stationary cupboard.

Imogen sighed heavily. She realised that it was highly unlikely that she'd be able to persuade Davina to leave the cupboard. For one thing, she wasn't suitably armed with either a fresh fruit salad or a bunch of dahlias. Feeling every muscle in her body ache, she forced herself to her feet and approached the cupboard.

"What is it Davina?"

The door opened a crack and Davina stuck her nose through the gap. She looked around as best as she could.

"Are we alone?"

Imogen gestured round to the rest of the empty room.

"It would appear so."

Davina opened the door an inch further and poked her nose out into the room. She paused for a moment before grabbing hold of Imogen's arm and, displaying more strength than her figure suggested, she pulled the younger teacher into the cupboard.

"What the…" Imogen was completely caught off guard by Davina's actions and was at something of a loss for words as she found herself stuffed into a very tight space, her nose practically brushing against Davina's.

"Ssshhhh." Davina motioned at her to be quiet. "Walls have ears." She told her colleague sagely.

"I haven't got time for this." Imogen began to protest, but Davina shushed her again.

"I've had word about you know what, from you know who, from the you know what."

Imogen shook her head in disbelief as she tried to make sense of what Davina was saying. She buried her face in her hands after a few seconds as her mind tried and failed to make sense of what Davina had just said.

"Don't worry," Davina reassured her colleague, completely misunderstanding the action. "It's not bad news."

"Davina." Imogen spoke slowly through gritted teeth. "Not for the first time in my life, I don't have a clue what you're talking about."

Davina looked at Imogen as though she were some backward 1st year who had failed to understand why 'Eye of Toad' was perhaps the single most important song in the world.

"My friend… my friend Beatrice from the Witch Training School. You remember her? Well she reckons that she can get her hands on Constance's personnel file." Davina rubbed her hands together. "This could be something really really juicy."

Imogen pulled a face. Since she had first discussed the idea with Davina, she had to confess that she hadn't just had second thoughts; she'd had third, fourth and fifth thoughts as well. If Constance found out what they were up to there was no telling what she might do. Imogen really didn't fancy spending the rest of her life as a frog, she had far too much that she still wanted to accomplish in life, things that couldn't be done with webbed feet and a lack of opposable thumbs.

"Do you really think we should be doing this?" She gave voice to her fears.

"I think I should have done this years ago." Davina stated firmly.

Imogen pulled a face.

"I think we should be careful all the same."

"What, you think we might get paper cuts?"

"What?"

"You could be right." Davina continued on, oblivious to the fact that she had confused Imogen. "The file could be huge; it could contain a great many pages. The more pages there are; the more chances to get a nasty paper cut. They sting you know; for something really small and insignificant, they can be really irritating."

Imogen sighed.

"I wasn't talking about paper cuts. I was just wondering whether this was a good idea or not?" She tried to explain further. "What if Constance finds out about it?"

"Let her find out." Miss Bat announced loudly and flung her arms open, causing one of the cupboard doors to fly open. "What do we care?"

"What on earth are you doing now?"

Imogen froze as she recognised the unmistakable scathing tones of Constance. She closed her eyes and prayed that the potions teacher wouldn't look any closer into the cupboard. It might mean that she'd have to spend the rest of the break period stuck in an airless cupboard with Davina, but by remaining undiscovered, she wouldn't have to try and explain why she was shut in a cupboard in the first place. Imogen squeezed her eyes shut and waited for what was going to happen next.

"Have you finally taken leave of your remaining senses?" Constance sneered at Davina as she watched the chanting teacher struggle to regain her balance. "It's beyond me how you manage to fit in there in the first place. Not only is it incredibly inconvenient for the rest of us, who do occasionally require access to new stationary, it's also extremely unhygienic." Constance crossed the room in a few strides and pulled open the other door of the cupboard. "I do hope that you haven't put honey all over the exercise…." She paused as she took in the sight of Imogen Drill squashed into the cupboard; her eyes screwed shut as though she was on some particularly frightening fairground ride. "…books." She finished quietly. Narrowing her own eyes and tilting her head slightly to one side, Constance regarded her colleague, an expression of bewilderment on her face. She opened her mouth to say something and then appeared to think better of it. She closed her mouth firmly again and straightened herself up. "Would you mind passing me half a dozen of the yellow covered exercise books?" She asked Imogen as politely as she could. "Your left hip seems to be blocking my view of them."

Wordlessly, Imogen shifted herself to one side and reached for the books that Constance had requested. Counting out the correct number, she handed them forward.

"Anything else?" She asked as calmly as she could.

"That will be all… for now." Without batting an eyelid, Constance shut the door again and turned on her heel.

As soon as she heard the staff room door close with its usual creak of badly-oiled hinges, Imogen pushed the door to the cupboard open and sank down upon the floor, cradling her head in her hands.

"That does it." She muttered to herself. "Constance's going to think that I've flipped."

"Why should she think that dear?" Davina wanted to know as she reached past Imogen for the pot of honey she'd left next to the poster paints. "I've been taking refuge in the stationary cupboard for years now and no-one thinks I'm in the least bit strange."

Imogen raised her head to meet Davina's gaze, just in time to see her take a healthy swig of a fresh pot of 'brilliant red'.

Imogen whimpered quietly and rocked herself back and forth for a few seconds.

"There's only one thing for it." She decided, pulling herself up straight. "I need to see those records Davina. I need to find some dirt on Constance Hardbroom."


	5. Chapter 5

_Sorry for the delay, life's been doing that hectic thing again. There should be another part very soon._

* * *

"Come on girls." Imogen tried to usher the 2nd years down the corridor towards the Great Hall. She listened to the excited chattering and felt her heart sink a little. Miss Cackle had cancelled the afternoon's hockey practice and informed Imogen that she should take the girls inside to decorate the Great Hall in preparation for parent's evening.

Imogen wanted to know why it was that every break in the normal routine resulted in such excitement. She could understand why the pupils would welcome a break from potions or chanting, but she couldn't understand why they should seem to be so excited about missing the chance to spend the afternoon outside in the fresh air. Given the choice, Imogen knew where she would rather be.

"If you don't hurry up then the day will be over before you've had a chance to get started." She warned the girls as they made their way into the hall.

"Wow." Mildred was the first to walk through the Great hall's doors and take in the piles of crepe paper, bags of balloons and streamers that covered the floor. "Is this really all for parent's night?"

Imogen couldn't help but be infected by Mildred's eagerness.

"It certainly is." She turned and beamed at the rest of the class. "And you, you lucky people have the job of turning this place into something bright and cheerful."

"Great." Drusilla remarked sarcastically as she entered the room. "I'd almost rather be playing hockey."

"That can be arranged." Imogen warned her pupil in a low tone, not wanting anyone to spoil the moment.

Ethel dug Drusilla in the ribs.

"Shut up." She hissed at her friend. "I don't see why we should be used as slave labour either, but if it keeps us in here and out of the cold, then I'm not going to complain."

"Are you happy there girls?" Imogen inquired politely.

"Fine thanks Miss." Ethel answered for the pair of them.

"Right then girls, let's get to it."

With a certain amount of chatter, the girls divided themselves into small groups and began the task of turning the grey walls of the Great Hall into something more welcoming.

* * *

Mildred stood back from the pillar she had been decorating and admired her handiwork. 

"What do you think?" She waited as Maud finished her own pillar and then looked round.

"Oh wow Millie, that's really good." Maud enthused before looking back at her own efforts. "I wish I had half of your talent."

Mildred smiled.

"It's not often that anyone says that to me." She looked at Maud's efforts at decorating. "Your stuff looks good too."

Maud pulled a face.

"We both know that that's not true." She chided her friend. "Your pillar looks really good, mine looks as though there was an explosion in a crepe paper factory!"

Mildred moved to stand next to her friend and regarded Maud's efforts closely.

"Maybe if we were to move this piece up a bit…. and that bit to the left a bit…."

Maud smiled and stood back as Mildred set about rescuing the mess that she had made.

"That looks really good girls."

Mildred and Maud turned to see Miss Drill standing behind them, hands on hips, looking at their decorations with a smile on her face.

"Thanks Miss." They chorused, secretly pleased at the recognition.

"I really think that parent's evening is going to turn out to be a complete success." Imogen told them. "It really seems to be bringing everyone together."

"Apart from whoever it is who's trying to sabotage the evening. Mildred pointed out.

Imogen frowned at Mildred's comment.

"Who said that anyone was trying to sabotage the evening?" She demanded to know.

Mildred winced.

"Miss Hardbroom warned us that someone had done… Well she didn't actually say what had happened, but she did imply that someone was trying to get parent's evening called off."

Imogen folded her arms and regarded the two girls carefully.

"I wouldn't pay too much heed to Miss Hardbroom's fears, if I were you. I can't imagine why anyone would want to try to get the evening cancelled. It's going to be a great success."

"Yes Miss." Mildred agreed. "I'm really looking forward to showing my parents around the place."

Imogen frowned.

"Did Miss Hardbroom give any indication as to what happened?" Imogen couldn't let the thought go.

"No Miss." Mildred answered honestly, wishing that she'd never said anything in the first place.

"Well I'm sure that she's just mistaken." Imogen told. "Probably trying to make sure that none of you step out of line."

Mildred watched as Miss Drill turned away from them and walked slowly away, her mind obviously still pre-occupied with the news that someone was trying to upset the evening.

"Really wish I hadn't said anything." She confided to Maud.

"Well it's done now." Maud told her calmly. "There's nothing you can do about it, but I wouldn't mind being a fly on the wall in the staff room at the end of the day." She paused as a thought struck her. "And before you ask Millie, I'm not ever going to agree to help you turn yourself into a fly. Spying on the teachers in the staff room is not something I want to get expelled for."

"I didn't say anything." Mildred protested but Maud shook her head.

"I could hear you thinking it Mil, I know I could."

* * *

Davina opened the door to the staff room and poked her head cautiously around the opening. It wasn't often that Constance made her way directly to the staff room at the end of a day but there was no harm in checking things out. She cast her eyes around the room for a few moments before finally deciding that the coast was clear. She pushed the door open fully and beckoned Imogen into the room. 

"Constance isn't here." She reassured her colleague.

"Just as well." Imogen remarked dryly. "I'm sure she wouldn't have been the least bit suspicious to see you peering around the doorframe like something out of a bad 60's spy film."

Imogen strode past Davina into the room and settled herself onto one of the chairs before directing her attention back towards Miss Bat.

"Have you heard anything more from Beatrice?"

"Sorry?" Davina looked up sharply as though someone had said something they shouldn't. After a moment or two, she relaxed slightly and settled herself into the chair opposite. She beckoned Imogen closer. "I heard from her only last night actually. It seems that her little Bobby will pull through."

"What?"

"It seems he only fractured his wing."

Imogen shook her head as she struggled to understand what Davina was babbling on about.

"I was talking about the file." She looked in what she hoped was a meaningful way at Davina. "You know… 'The file'."

Davina shook her head.

"I'm sorry Imogen, you've completely lost the thread of this conversation. I was talking about Beatrice's little budgie Bobby. He had an argument with her cat and it seems he came off second best."

"Don't get me wrong, this is all very fascinating Davina." Imogen did her best to keep a lid on her temper. "But I was under the impression that you'd invited me here to tell me what progress had been made with getting hold of Constance's file."

"Sshhh." Davina flapped her hands frantically in front of Imogen's face. "We don't want Constance hearing what we're up to."

Imogen pulled a face before lowering her voice to a whisper.

"Well, is there any news?"

"If you'd listen, then I'd tell you." Davina retorted huffily. "I do wish you wouldn't interrupt."

Imogen bit back the words that rose to her lips and indicated that Davina should proceed.

"Well she assures me that she's located the correct file and has sent it via messenger." Davina clapped her hands together with excitement. "It should be here by tomorrow."

Imogen couldn't suppress the grin that sprang to her face.

"Tomorrow?" She echoed. "That's brilliant, that's absolutely perfect. That means we'll have ammunition before parent's evening begins." Imogen sat back in her chair. "There's no way that little Miss Bossy Boots can…" Imogen cut off as she heard the unmistakable sound of the door opening. She stared in wide-eyed panic at Davina for a moment before trying to sit back in her chair and look relaxed.

Constance narrowed her eyes as she entered the staff room. There was an unnatural silence in the air. She looked from Miss Bat to Miss Drill, who were the room's only occupants, and took in the way that they were both studiously looking at the walls. She 'hmmed' to herself as she crossed the room. It was a good thing, she told herself, to be feared. As Mistress Broomhead had drilled into her when she was younger, 'it was better to be feared than loved.' Constance had made it her mission to make that particular saying a reality.

"Do tell me if I'm interrupting something." She remarked icily as she took her customary place at the table. She watched as both Davina and Imogen busied themselves, trying to look as though they had been doing something other than talking about her.

"I assume that you two bleeding hearts are looking forward to the coming spectacle?"

Imogen paused for a few seconds before answering; assuring herself that she really had understood the question.

"If you are talking about the parent's evening, then yes, I am looking forward to it."

"As it was your ludicrous suggestion, I imagined that you would still be flying the flag for it Miss Drill." Constance turned her attention to Davina. "And you Davina, are you still confident that the parents will come through your classroom and do nothing but praise your work?"

"I…Well I…I…" Davina stumbled as she always did when put on the spot.

"Well I'm glad we cleared that up." Constance remarked sarcastically. "I for one am less than keen on having so many people waltzing through the corridors, gawping at everything that we do."

"Really Miss Hardbroom?" Imogen's tone almost matched that of her colleague's. "Why on earth didn't you say something before!"

Constance narrowed her eyes and glared at the younger teacher.

"I take it that you are responsible for the ostentatious display in the Great Hall? I had the misfortune to look in there as I was making my way here. It looks as though the circus is in town."

Imogen glared at her colleague.

"The girls spent all afternoon working on the decorations in the hall. Would it be too much to ask you not to make your views known in front of them?"

Constance made a noise that somewhere between a snort and a laugh of derision.

"Do I take it that they are actually proud of that… that display?"

"They most certainly are." Imogen stood her ground. "Actually that reminds me 'Constance', Mildred Hubble told me about the sabotage. I was led to believe that the information regarding the disruptions was going to be suppressed."

Constance stared down her nose at Imogen, a slight expression of amusement on her face.

"**We** agreed nothing of the sort. Miss Cackle decided that she wasn't going to make a fuss about the sabotage attempts, I made no such promise. I don't see why the young offender should get away scot-free. "

"No," Imogen countered. "I'm sure if you had your way, you'd have the culprit hung upside down by their toes in the Great Hall as a lesson to the others."

"You seem to be getting a little hysterical Miss Drill. Been spending a little too much time in airless stationary cupboards perhaps?"

"Now listen to me Constance Hardbroom…"

Constance rolled her eyes and then fixed Imogen with the long-suffering glare she usually reserved for Mildred Hubble.

"Is this really necessary Miss Drill? I don't know about you, but I have lessons for tomorrow to prepare for. I certainly do not have the time to stand here and trade insults with you like a common navvy. If you would excuse me, I really have to get on."

Imogen followed Constance with her eyes as the taller woman strode from the room. When she was satisfied that Constance had truly gone Imogen turned her attention to Miss Bat.

"Well thanks for your support Davina." She remarked sarcastically. "You could have said something."

Davina pretended to busy herself with her knitting. Imogen sighed. Whilst it was nice to have allies in her constant battles with Constance, she had to admit that it was next to useless when Miss Bat was one of them.

* * *

Maud turned her head and glared into the shadows, trying to work out whether there was anyone there or whether it was just her imagination playing tricks on her yet again. She was certain that there should be other things that she should be doing. She rolled her eyes; she knew that there were other things that she was supposed to be doing; HB had made sure that there was plenty of homework. Maud bit her lip; why she had agreed to Mildred's crazy plan to try to catch the parent's evening saboteur in the act was beyond her, but agree she had and now she found herself sneaking along the corridors with Mildred and Enid when she should be up in her room memorising the ingredients for a dissolving potion. 

"I really don't think we should be doing this." She hissed at Mildred. She stopped suddenly in her tracks.

After a few paces Mildred realised that her friend was no longer following her and slowed to a halt.

"What's up?"

Maud placed her hands on her hips.

"How many times in the past two years have I told you that I don't think we should be doing something?"

Mildred looked at her friend for a second and then shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know."

Ahead, Enid sighed heavily as she realised that the others were no longer following her. She turned on her heel and hurried back to join them.

"C'mon you two." She urged.

Maud folded her arms.

"I want to know." She told Mildred firmly. "Do you think I'm always saying it?"

Mildred shrugged her shoulders again.

"You're just a little more cautious than I am."

Maud folded her arms tighter.

"So I am boring!"

"I never said that." Mildred replied quickly.

"But I am, aren't I?" Maud complained, not happy with the conclusion she had just come to. "I'm always the one that stands there and tells you not to do things… I'm not sure I want to be the sensible one."

"Will you two come on?" Enid urged, not wanting to get dragged into the conversation.

"You're not boring." Mildred told her friend with as much conviction as she could muster.

"But when have I ever done anything really interesting without prompting from you?"

Mildred bit her lip as she realised that she didn't have an immediate answer for her friend. She heard the impatient sigh from Enid and knew that she had to come up with some kind of an answer.

"We're a team Maud; if you weren't here then I probably wouldn't go through with half the things that I do."

Maud regarded Mildred closely, trying to work out whether she really believed her friend or not.

"Will you two come on?" Enid hissed impatiently. "At this rate we're going to have to go back upstairs before we've even gotten to the hall."

Mildred squeezed Maud's arm.

"We'll talk about this later if you like."

Maud nodded silently and then the pair of them headed off after Enid.

* * *

Watching from the shadows, Ethel kept an eye on Mildred and her cronies as they made their way down the corridor towards the Great Hall. With lessons over for the day, she knew that there was no reason for them to be in this part of the building. She knew for a fact that they should be studying quietly in their rooms. She had a reason to be where she was. Miss Bat had asked her and Drusilla to perform a chant for parent's night and she was determined that the performance was going to be perfect. Miss Cackle had agreed to the extra time spent in the chanting classroom, believing the lie that the acoustics were better in there. 

"Where are that lot going?"

Ethel turned her head as she heard Drusilla's voice at her ear.

"Up to no good as usual, I'll bet."

"Should we follow them?"

Ethel sneered at her friend's suggestion.

"Mildred would only end up getting us into strife as well. You know what she's like."

Drusilla pulled a face.

"But what if that lot are behind the plans to disrupt parent's evening? If we were to catch them in the act, we'd be heralded as heroes."

Ethel had to admit to herself that she was tempted by the idea but she didn't want Dru to realise that.

"You know as well as I do that Mildred would find someway of wriggling out of trouble. She always does."

"But what if it is her and her gang that are trying to stop parent's night?" Drusilla persisted. "I don't want to have to miss out because Hubble Bubble and her friends think that they can pull one over on us."

"If Mildred is behind it all then there's no way that it will work anyway, we all know just how useless she is at getting anything right." Ethel grabbed hold of her friend's arm and pulled her towards the chanting room. "Come on or we'll run out of time before we've started."

* * *

The school in the early morning was always a little odd Imogen decided. Light would spill in through the windows and illuminate the dark shadows that seemed to intrude during the evening, but the place never really felt warm. There was always something cold about the place. What the corridors really needed she decided, was the noise and the chatter that the girls brought to the place. 

She stopped for a moment to regain her breath; the morning had looked so glorious that she'd decided that there was time for a run before breakfast. What she had forgotten was that even she needed the odd day off for her body to recover. It was making its protests to her now and she had no option other than to listen. She let the air fill her lungs in great gulping breaths and leant back against the walls, welcoming the cold of the stone walls.

She frowned as a noise intruded on her calm. She turned her head, trying to locate the source of the sound. As she moved down the corridor the noise petered out. Frowning, Imogen stopped and wondered whether she should simply ignore it. The school was full of inexplicable things and there was a very real chance that what she had just heard was the castle's idea of a joke.

She was about to head back up to her room and a shower, when a plaintive howl reached her ears. She was fairly certain that she knew the owner of the howl but she had to check to be sure. Forcing her tired limbs into a run, she headed in the direction of the Great Hall where the pained sound had seemingly originated.

She pulled on the heavy wooden doors and made her way into the room. The place was an absolute mess. Where there had been carefully arranged bunting the previous day, there now remained nothing but torn pieces of crepe paper and balloons bobbing around on the floor of the hall. She raised her eyes, still searching out the source of the plaintive wail that had drawn her to the hall in the first place.

Miss Bat stood in the middle of the stage with a torn piece of bunting in one hand, looking very forlorn.

"What happened?" Imogen finally found her voice. She made her way across the debris that littered the floor, heading towards the elderly chanting teacher.

Miss Bat shrugged her shoulders and let the torn piece of bunting drop from her hand, watching as it fluttered pathetically to the ground.

"Who would do such a thing?" She demanded to know, her voice was shaking as she struggled to control her emotions. "It all looked so pretty yesterday."

"Perhaps it was an accident." Imogen suggested, hoping that she would be able to console her obviously distressed colleague. "I'm sure that none of the girls would do something like this on purpose." Imogen picked her way through a pile of torn crepe paper and climbed the steps to the stage.

From the raised platform, the scene actually looked worse. Imogen felt her heart sink. She realised that there was little chance that everything could be replaced in time. She knew for a fact that she had exhausted the local shops of balloons and streamers. She'd tried to look innocent when she'd left the shop the previous day and heard the wail that issued from a small child being told that they couldn't have balloons at their 6th birthday party. She had kept her purchases clutched close to her chest and avoided making eye contact with the angry looking parent as she'd slipped out of the shop.

"This wasn't an accident." Davina sniffed as she cast her eyes around the mess. "This was sabotage."

"Oh come on." Imogen argued gently. "Who would do something this spiteful?"

Davina's foot kicked out at a balloon and it bobbled forlornly across the stage.

"Well there's only been one person that's been dead set against parent's evening from the start."

"Constance?" Imogen's eyebrow's shot up in disbelief. "I know she can be a little on the cruel side but there's no way that she'd do something like this."

"Davina huffed gently and made her way over to the edge of the stage.

"I'm just going to go and have a word with her."

Imogen watched as Miss Bat made her way carefully down the stairs and across the hall. She doubted that Constance was going to be quaking in her boots at the sight of Davina on the warpath. She mentally ran through a list of possible suspects in her mind; trying to work out if anyone had anything to gain from preventing the parent's evening from going ahead. Most of the pupils had their parents attending and, from those who didn't, she couldn't think of anyone who was that distressed about it. The more she thought about it, the more she realised that the only person who did seem dead set against it, was Constance.

She shook her head and tried to dismiss the thought. Constance might have a mean streak in her a mile wide, but Imogen was certain that resorting to acts like this wasn't in the potion teacher's nature.

She glanced once more at the devastation in the room and then followed the path that Davina had taken and left the hall.


	6. Chapter 6

_This was supposed to be the end of part 5 but it wasn't quite finished yesterday_

* * *

Miss Hardbroom was sitting quietly in the staff room, working her way through some marking for the 1st years and wondering just where she had gone wrong in her lessons. Having two students get completely the wrong answer to a question was one thing, but having every pupil in the class labouring under the belief that henbane was something that it was impossible to make a vanishing potion without, was more than a little disturbing. She sighed heavily and resolved to take the class through the ingredients of the potion again. She flipped open the diary that sat next to the exercise books she was marking and checked her schedule. Even though the details of the next three months were firmly set out in her mind, it did no harm to double-check things. She picked up her pencil and absentmindedly licked the end of it as she tried to work out which time would be most inconvenient for her pupils.

Smiling, she settled on a Friday evening and, with precise, smooth, letters she pencilled in a detention for the offending year group. It was amazing how quickly the students learnt when they were being kept in detention on a Friday night.

Shutting the diary with a snap, she was about to return her attention to her marking when the door to the staff room flew open and Miss Bat stormed in. Constance widened her eyes as she watched her colleague flounce towards her. It was obvious that Davina was making an effort, so Constance reasoned that the least she could do was return the courtesy and try and show a little interest in what was going on.

"Was there something you wanted Davina?"

"How could you?" Davina spat the words out.

Constance narrowed her eyes and waited for more information to be revealed. When nothing more was said, she gestured towards Davina.

"Without a little more information to go on, it's going to be a rather difficult to answer that with any degree of certainty."

Davina was shocked by the calmness with which Constance sat there as though she'd done nothing. It was too much for her to take. She clenched her fists and tried to articulate her feelings.

"Mmummm gernumph murpurrrrb." Davina blurted out as she failed comprehensively to control her anger.

Constance tutted; getting sense out of Davina was difficult at the best of times. When she was like this, it was next to impossible. Constance stared down at the pile of work that she still had to get through.

"I'm sorry Davina but if you're not going to make the effort to be a little clearer then I'm going to have to request that you leave me to get on with my work."

"Mmmerrrmmum…. Ploooommmeeedd." Davina sniffed and spluttered her way closer to Constance. She finally pulled away the handkerchief that she had been holding to her mouth and waved it in her colleague's direction.

Constance frowned; she really had tried to be patient but this flagrant disregard for the spreading of germs was a step too far.

"If you don't take that disease ridden handkerchief out of my face, I'll see to it that it never flaps around ever again. Surely you have better things to do with your day than come in here and irritate me. Whatever it is that you imagine that I've done to offend you, I'm sure that I'm sorry for it." She waved Davina away. "Now… Good day!"

Davina felt as though her head was going to explode. She couldn't believe the audacity of the woman. She sat there as though butter wouldn't melt in her mouth and there in the Great Hall was the evidence of what she'd been up to.

"I'm going to see Miss Cackle about this." She finally found the strength to form some words.

"You do that Davina." Constance encouraged her, still slightly bemused "I'm sure she'll be delighted to see you in your current state."

Davina turned on her heel and stomped off towards the door.

"You know no shame." She sniffed angrily before stalking from the room.

Constance shook her head as she watched her colleague leave, still not understanding what was going on. Determined to push the matter from her mind, she returned her attention to her marking. Moments later the door was pushed open again and Miss Drill came running into the room.

"What is it now?" Constance demanded to know in an exasperated tone.

Imogen looked around, trying to work out where Miss Bat was.

"Have you seen Davina?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Constance replied flatly. "Has she been sniffing the silver polish again?"

"What?" Imogen was momentarily confused but she quickly regained her composure. "What did Davina say?"

Constance furrowed her brow.

"Now let me get this exactly right… I believe it was… Mmummm gernumph murpurrrrb." She stared at Imogen after completing her deadpan delivery of Davina's tantrum.

"Was that all?"

Constance rolled her eyes.

"I can assure you that anything else she said was equally as unintelligible."

"Right." Imogen hovered in the doorway, undecided as to what she should do next.

"As you seem to have appointed yourself as her personal companion these days, you may be interested to know that I last saw her running out of the door, shortly before you arrived, muttering something about going to see Miss Cackle." Constance turned her head back to her marking. "I can only imagine the sheer delight that Miss Cackle will experience when Davina arrives in her office."

When there was no reply to her comment, Constance raised her head and looked around. She was alone in the room once again. She sighed heavily before returning her attention to her work. There were times, she reflected, when everyone else in the school seemed to be completely out of their minds.

* * *

Amelia looked up from the report she had been reading, as the door to her office burst open and Miss Bat flapped her way into the room. The woman was positively shaking with emotion and Amelia sighed, wondering just what it was that had set Davina off this time.

"Sit down Davina." She gestured towards a chair, hoping to be able to calm the chanting teacher as quickly as possible. "Sit down and let me pour you a glass of water."

Davina muttered something incomprehensible and collapsed onto one of the chairs.

Amelia busied herself pouring a glass of water from the pitcher on her desk and tried to think of a way into the conversation without sending Miss Bat over the edge.

She held the glass out in front of her and stared at Davina over the top of her glasses.

"Now take a deep breath and tell me what's happened."

Davina opened her mouth to launch into her story but all that came out was an incomprehensible series of whimpers and squeaks.

Amelia sighed heavily and pushed the glass into Davina's hands.

"Take a sip of water and try to calm down."

Davina nodded furiously, demonstrating that she was anything but calm. She raised the glass to her lips, her hands shaking violently and spilling most of the water over herself before the glass got anywhere near her mouth.

"Mmruuummmphhh." Davina tried to speak as the glass finally reached her mouth and only succeeded in spitting what little water was left in the glass over the table.

"Mmmm." Amelia took the glass gently back from Davina, she debated filling it up again, but after taking a quick glance at the mess of sopping paper on her desk, she decided against it.

"Just take your time Davina." She cooed gently, used to the somewhat delicate nature of the chanting teacher. "Just take your time and tell me what happened."

"Constance Hardbroom." Davina spluttered. "That's what happened."

Amelia frowned and sat back in her chair, interlacing her fingers. If she was honest with herself, there were times when she thought that Constance was the cause of more trouble than any pupil within the school. She'd lost track of the number of times when she'd sat at her desk and listened to complaints about her deputy. Most of the complaints came from those who just didn't understand that Constance saw the world in a very black and white way. To her, there was only one 'right' way of doing things and anyone who couldn't or wouldn't see that, wasn't doing it right and deserved to be informed of that fact in no uncertain terms.

For a moment, Amelia's thoughts drifted away from the subject in hand and thought of all the caretakers, cooks and general handymen that had attempted to work at the castle over the years. Hardly any of them had lasted more than a few days and all of them had listed Constance somewhere in their letters of resignation as one of their main reasons for leaving.

The sound of the door opening again drew her out of reverie. She sighed inwardly, there had been a time when people used to treat her room with a little respect and actually knocked on the door and waited for permission to enter, before even thinking of opening it and crossing the threshold. These days it seemed as though everyone thought that they had the right to barge straight in. She shrugged her shoulders; Constance had warned her what would happen if she continued with her 'open door policy'. Amelia had always imagined that the 'open door' was figurative rather than literal. She raised her head and forced a smile onto her face to greet Imogen Drill.

"I suppose you've come to tell me that Constance has done something to upset you as well?"

"No… I…" Imogen was briefly thrown by Miss Cackle's response and wondered just what Davina had said.

"Would one of you mind telling me what's so important that you both have to come bursting in here as though the school were on fire." Amelia paused. "It's not…. Is it?"

Imogen shook her head.

"It's the Great Hall."

"The Great Hall's on fire!" Amelia waved her hands at the others. "Well there's no time to sit around, we've got to get everyone out of here."

Imogen held up her hands, trying to calm Miss Cackle down.

"The Great Hall's not on fire."

"Well, why did you say it was?" Amelia demanded to know.

"I didn't." Imogen protested.

"It was Constance." Davina spat.

Amelia struggled to keep up with the turn of events.

"Constance said the Great Hall was on fire?" There was a note of desperation in her voice. "When did she say this?"

Imogen clasped both hands to her head.

"There is no fire in the Great Hall." She spoke as calmly as she could. "There is no fire anywhere…"

"Apart from in Mrs Tapioca's kitchen." Davina added.

"Apart from in Mrs Tapioca's kitchen." Imogen found herself repeating.

"And of course beneath all those little cauldrons in the potion lab."

"And of course beneath all those little cauldrons …" Imogen realised what she was doing and forced herself to stop repeating what Davina was saying. She glared at Davina, who in turn looked hurt.

"Well there's no point in glaring at me because Constance has ruined the decorations in the Great Hall."

"We don't know that it was Constance." Imogen argued.

"Excuse me!" Amelia raised her voice, something she seldom did, and as a result, it was something that immediately got the attention of the two bickering teachers. "Would one of you mind telling me exactly, and I do mean exactly, what has been going on." She fixed Imogen with her best steely gaze that she usually reserved for builders that came to her with outrageously over-priced estimates. "Why don't you start?"

Imogen licked her lips nervously.

"Someone…" She shot a look at Miss Bat, daring her to say anything. "Someone has ruined the decorations that were in the Great Hall for parent's night."

"It was Constance." Miss Bat blurted out, as soon as she was certain that Imogen's eyes were no longer on her.

"There's no proof of that Davina." Imogen reminded her with as much patience as she could muster.

"So who's been the one that's been down on the idea from the start and told you that it was a misguided venture?"

"That was Constance." Imogen had to admit. "But she wouldn't do something like this."

"Ladies, please." Amelia tried to break back into the conversation again. "Just how bad is the damage to the Great Hall?"

Davina's face crumpled as she thought of the devastation she had seen.

"It's all ruined." She blubbed. "There's crepe paper everywhere and balloons and…." She waved her hand forlornly, trying to indicate the magnitude of the problem.

"It looks as though some particularly nasty tornado has hit it." Imogen confirmed.

Amelia frowned.

"I take it that none of it's salvageable?"

Imogen pulled a face.

"Well there's nothing I could do…" She paused as a thought struck her. "Could you perhaps…" She wiggled her fingers.

Amelia frowned.

"I'm not sure that wouldn't come under the umbrella of either selfish or trivial."

"Constance would think it was trivial." Davina muttered under her breath as she attempted to stop sniffling.

Imogen looked imploringly at Amelia.

"There has to be some kind of loophole? Something that would let you fix the problem?"

Amelia pushed up her sleeves and then shook out her hands, secretly excited at the prospect of performing an impressive rescue spell.

"Let's go and look at this scene of carnage."

Leaving Imogen to help Davina to her feet, Amelia headed out of her office.

* * *

Pushing open the heavy wooden door, Amelia entered the Great Hall, her eyes prepared for the worst. What she saw surprised her. Bunting hung in graceful arcs from the beams on the ceiling. Strands of multi-coloured crepe paper were wound around the pillars by the stage in intricate patterns, and balloons were bobbing gently in the breeze as they attempted to free themselves from where they'd been pinned to every available surface.

"Oh my…" Amelia breathed. "She couldn't recall the hall ever looking so beautiful.

"I tried to replicate the girls' designs, but I'm not sure I got everything right." Constance appeared from behind one of the pillars and folded her arms as she took a pace back to admire her handiwork.

"But you've…" Imogen fought to find the right words.

"Got some things wrong?" Constance tried to finish the sentence. "I don't doubt that I have. Some of the girls' designs were a little 'busy' for my tastes."

She descended the steps at the edge of the stage and made her way over to join the others. She stood next to Amelia and appeared not to notice the fact that both Imogen and Davina were standing there with their mouths open in complete disbelief.

"It appears that some enterprising little mind decided that they could redecorate the hall in a more avant-garde style than was originally planned."

Imogen gestured to the walls as she finally managed to find her voice.

"There was just mess."

Constance regarded her with a slightly bemused air.

"Indeed there was."

Imogen gestured a little more widely and vigorously.

"And you've…."

Constance nodded slowly as though she were dealing with a particularly backward child.

"Yes. What were you expecting?"

Imogen shrugged her shoulders and opened her mouth to try and find an answer, but no words would come. There were times when she thought she understood Constance but then she would do something like this and completely ruin the image that Imogen had worked out.

"I thought you hated all the decoration?"

Constance nodded.

"I do, I think it's ghastly."

"So why…."

"They spent all afternoon working on it. You really think it fair for them to find out that some thoughtless individual or group of individuals has gone and ruined it all with a wanton act of vandalism?"

"Well no…"

"Exactly." Constance turned to face Amelia, who had remained quiet throughout; slightly put out that Constance had spoilt her moment of drama. "With your permission head-mistress, I will return to my duties?"

"What? Oh of course Constance. Carry on."

Constance swept out of the hall, leaving her colleagues staring up at the decorations in disbelief. Constance, of course was completely oblivious to the impact she had just made on the others.


	7. Chapter 7

_Here we go, another part. I promise you that we will get to parent's night eventually. There's just a few things to be sorted out first. _

* * *

Miss Cackle cast her eyes over the expectant faces that were looking up at her and shook her head slowly. There was no way that she'd believe that one of her students was responsible for the mess in the Great Hall. She knew that Constance was right and that one of the girl's had to have masterminded the whole thing, but she just couldn't imagine who it might have been.

"Miss Cackle?" She turned her head as she heard the prompting words of her deputy.

Constance was standing at her side and indicating that perhaps she should get on with the announcement that she had to make. Miss Cackle shook herself out of her reverie. She had called the meeting in the courtyard, as there was nowhere else large enough to gather all the girls together and now she realised that most of the girls were beginning to shiver with the cold.

"Yes, I'm sorry for getting you out here but as I'm sure the rumour mill will have told you by now, there was a disturbance in the Great Hall last night."

There was immediately a buzz of chatter from the girls.

"Quiet."

The group fell silent immediately and Miss Cackle nodded in gratitude to her deputy.

She smiled at the, now concerned, faces that were looking up at her.

"It's not all bad news, we were able to affect some repairs but there are still some finishing touches that need to be applied. Volunteers to help with the work should report to the Great Hall after assembly is over."

Constance stood next to Miss Cackle and tried to keep her feelings of frustration to herself. She had told Amelia that the only way to deal with the matter of the destruction in the Great Hall was to wheedle out the culprit and make an example of them. With so many pupils looking forward to the upcoming event, it wouldn't take much for them to turn on one of their own and, to use one of the 2nd years expressions 'grass them up'. She thought that Amelia was, as usual, being far too soft on them and inadvertently giving the guilty party the opportunity to get off without punishment. Constance narrowed her eyes and looked in turn at every pupil in the school. She was certain that, given enough time, she could work out who the culprit was. Whilst she agreed with their desire to get the evening cancelled, she most certainly did not agree with the way that they were going about it.

* * *

"I bet that this is your doing Mildred Hubble." Ethel sneered as she passed Mildred and her friends in the corridor. 

"Don't be ridiculous." Enid snapped back. "Why would this have anything to do with Mildred?"

"It seems to me that everything that goes wrong in this place has something to do with Mildred Hubble." Ethel folded her arms and glared at the group. "I don't know why you are all so keen to back her up."

"Only Mildred would be clumsy enough to cause that much damage." Drusilla appeared at Ethel's shoulder, ready as always to back up her friend. "I can't think of anyone else who could have done it."

"I didn't do it." Mildred protested hotly. "Why would I do it when I've got my parents coming to the event?"

"I would have thought that was obvious." Ethel retorted. "With you being so hopeless at everything, I thought that you'd want to do everything you could to prevent your parents from coming here and realising what a failure you are."

"Shut up Ethel." Maud jumped to her friend's defence but Ethel only smiled.

"Isn't that typical," She remarked to Drusilla. "Mildred always needs someone to fight her battles for her."

"I do not." Mildred pushed Maud to one side and stood toe to toe with Ethel. "And I did not have anything to do with the mess in the Great Hall."

"So why exactly were you sneaking around the corridors last night?"

"And just what is going on here?"

All the girls sighed in unison as they heard the unmistakable tones of Miss Hardbroom.

Both Ethel and Mildred took a step back from each other and tried to make it look as though nothing had happened but the move wasn't enough to fool Miss Hardbroom. She appeared in the midst of the small group of girls and fixed them all with a stern glare.

"I assume by your guilty expressions, that you are blaming each other for the act of wanton vandalism that was carried out in the Great Hall last night?"

The girls, as one, looked down at their feet.

"I can assure you that nothing is to be gained by unsubstantiated finger pointing." She paced slowly around the group of girls. "But rest assured that I will find out who was responsible for this. And when I do find them, they are going to be out of this school so fast their feet won't touch the ground." She paused and glared at each of the girls in turn. "Am I making myself clear?"

"Yes Miss Hardbroom." The girls chorused quietly.

"I'm afraid that I didn't hear you girls." Constance repeated coldly. "I said 'am I making myself clear'?"

"Yes Miss Hardbroom." The girls chorused again, raising their voices.

"Good. Now as you've all demonstrated your intense interest in the going's on in the Great Hall, may I suggest that you make your way silently there and help with the final touches."

"But I've got to revise for…" Ethel began to complain but was silenced by a look from Miss Hardbroom.

"All of you will help with making repairs to the damage caused, no matter what your previous arrangements, no matter what your connection or otherwise to what happened."

Constance glared at the girls again, as though daring them to answer back. When she was satisfied that they understood her, she continued.

"Right girls, now run along to the hall and help Miss Drill." She clapped her hands together and watched the small party as they moved off down the corridor. It was possible that one or more of them could be behind the vandalism in the hall; that one of them could now be heading off to the hall, thinking that they'd won some kind of victory. Constance frowned. That just wouldn't do. She narrowed her eyes, determination forming in the back of her mind. She was going to try one final time to get Amelia to see sense and call the whole sorry affair off. If that didn't work, she was going to track down the little criminal herself.

* * *

Amelia Cackle looked at the generous slice of cheesecake that sat untouched on the desk in front of her. She felt her mouth begin to water and she licked her lips with more than a touch of anticipation. This was undoubtedly the best part of the week. This was **her **time; her fifteen minutes away from the madness of the school and the responsibility that came with running it. She picked up the plate almost reverentially and brought it closer. She placed it on the napkin that had already been laid out on her lap and then reached out for her fork. There were little rituals that had to be followed and she began another one now, picking up her fork and meticulously cleaning every prong. Each second of delay only served to heighten that first taste sensation. 

When she was satisfied that everything was properly prepared, she lowered the edge of the fork towards the soft red texture of the cherry cheesecake. She breathed in deeply as the fork slid gently into the cheesecake, trying to take in as much of the smell of the cake as she could.

With a skill that spoke of years of indulgence, she manoeuvred a piece onto her fork and slowly raised it towards her mouth. She closed her eyes in expectation of the taste explosion.

"Miss Cackle, I really must talk to you about parent's evening." Constance Hardbroom's voice broke into the silence of the room.

Amelia let out a heartfelt sigh and lowered the untouched piece of cheesecake back towards the plate again; the moment was lost. She opened her eyes and sure enough, there was her deputy, standing ramrod straight as was her way, with her arms folded tightly in front of her.

Amelia leant slightly to the left to stare past Constance towards the door. She frowned; she was certain that she'd locked the door. She always locked the door; it was the first act in the ritual that was 'Cheesecake day'.

Looking back at Constance and seeing the determined look on her deputy's face, she placed the untouched cheesecake on the desk and forced her mind back into work mode.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you Miss Cackle, but I feel that we really must consider whether going ahead with parent's evening is really a wise move in the circumstances."

"And what circumstances would those be Constance?" Amelia asked the question, even though she was fairly certain of the answer that she would receive.

"Unless we can find out which malcontent was responsible for the destruction in the Great Hall, I think we should call the whole sorry event off."

Amelia rose to her feet and paced the room. She had to confess that she had considered cancelling the evening but there was something about the idea that she rather liked.

"Someone seems determined to get the evening cancelled." She pointed out to her colleague. "I don't think we should give that individual…" She paused as she heard the intake of breath from Constance and hastily amended her answer. "…Or group of individuals the satisfaction of thinking that they've won." She turned on her heel and began pacing back across the room. "I can't imagine why anyone would be so dead set against this evening." She fell silent as she realised what she was saying and shot a sideways glance at Constance to see if she'd heard the comment.

"I hope that you are not implying that I have anything to do with the wanton act of destruction perpetrated in the Great Hall?" Constance asked coldly.

Miss Cackle waved the question away.

"Of course not." She assured her colleague "But have you been aware of any unrest among the pupils since the evening was announced?"

Constance considered the question for a moment or two.

"Well there has been the usual sniping between the factions in the 2nd year but I can't imagine Mildred Hubble having the skill or temerity to carry out the level of destruction that occurred in the Great Hall."

Miss Cackle gestured in the direction of her desk.

"I don't think we need to look in Mildred's direction." She told her deputy. "Mildred's parents were some of the first to reply stating that they were coming and Mildred herself has been very excited about the evening."

Constance rolled her eyes.

"I'm certainly well aware of the latter. It has proven more taxing than usual to keep Mildred's attention fixed on her school work."

"Maud Moonshine's parents sent their apologies and stated that work was going to keep them away." Amelia mused.

Constance shook her head.

"Although she spends far too much of her time hanging around with Mildred Hubble, I don't see a destructive nature in Maud." She paused and considered the rest of her 2nd year potions group. "Only Enid Nightshade and, of course, Ethel Hallow, have shown any real aptitude towards blowing things up with any degree of proficiency."

Amelia considered the two names before shaking her head.

"I can't imagine that either of them would be capable of such an act of vandalism."

Constance clicked her tongue against her teeth.

"The problem is that you don't think any of them are capable of anything. You mark my words Amelia, one of them is responsible for everything that's going on here."

"But where's the proof?" Amelia protested.

Constance let out an exclamation borne of pure frustration.

"What do you call the defaced cards and the re-decoration of the Great Hall?"

Amelia raised a hand as a thought struck her.

"We have no definite proof that any of our girls are to blame." Constance opened her mouth to protest but Amelia waved for her to be quiet. "What's to say that there aren't other magic fingers at work here?"

Constance rolled her eyes; she'd considered and discounted the notion early on.

"Just who do you suppose would break in here to disrupt a parent's evening?" She asked with as much patience as she could muster. "It's hardly something that needs help to make it an unmitigated disaster."

Amelia tried to ignore the jibe from her deputy.

"Someone is to blame for this Constance but I really don't believe that any of girls are that unhappy here that they would do something like this."

"If we can't work out who it is then I don't think we should go ahead with the evening." Constance made one last effort to make Miss Cackle see sense.

"The evening will happen Constance." Amelia announced firmly. "Nothing is going to stop me from putting this event on."

Constance sighed.

"Do I at least have your permission to try and wheedle out the guilty party?"

Amelia considered the offer for a few seconds. Whilst she didn't expect Constance to attempt the task with any degree of consideration towards the event itself, she knew that she could rely on her deputy to keep her eye on everything that went on in the school.

"Very well." She agreed. "You have my permission to try but I don't want you turning the school upside-down in the process."

Constance turned to face towards the window, a slight smile forming on her face.

"Oh I think I might just have a way to unmask the perpetrator."

* * *

Mildred felt Maud pull on her arm as they filed into the potions lab. 

"What is it?" She hissed at her friend.

"Look." Maud pointed at the empty work benches. "I thought we were supposed to have practical potions this afternoon?"

Mildred nodded; her stomach had been churning all morning at the prospect of the dreaded practical exam. Written exams made her nervous at the best of times but practical tests were far and away the worst thing. No matter how hard she tried to keep calm, she always found that her heart would race and her hands would shake the moment that the potions test began. The only thing that was worse was the moment that HB started prowling the room and Mildred knew that she would head straight in her direction.

"Come on in girls." Miss Hardbroom called out with a mild tone of impatience as she spotted the girls hanging back in the doorway. "There is a lot to get through today."

"I thought we were having a potions test Miss?" Maud spoke up.

Miss Hardbroom raised her eyebrows.

"Am I not permitted to change my mind Maud Moonshine?"

"Well… um… of course Miss."

"Well I thank you for that Maud." There was a note of sarcasm in the voice and Maud swallowed nervously. It wasn't always possible to judge where HB's mood was likely to go. "Oh come along girls." Miss Hardbroom's tone grew more impatient. "We do not have all day."

Maud and Mildred exchanged glances before filing into the room and taking their usual seats.

"The recent events in the Great Hall brought to mind a little something that I thought you would all find useful. Now as I'm sure you are all aware, every time you cast a spell you leave a little magic in the air." Constance paused and waited for the inevitable murmur of agreement. "What you may not realise is the fact that it is possible to see this magic, no matter what spell you cast."

There was a ripple of whispers from the class as they took in this new piece of information. Constance waited for a few seconds before continuing.

"Ethel, come over here for a moment." She instructed and waited whilst Ethel scraped her chair back from the bench and made her way to the front of the class.

"Cast a transforming spell on that plant."

Ethel looked at the small green, slightly wilting plant that sat on the front bench.

"Miss?" Ethel queried the request.

Constance rolled her eyes.

"Turn it into something else. I'm sure you are capable of thinking of something."

Ethel racked her brains, trying to think of something suitable. Finally having made up her mind, she stretched out her arms and prepared to cast the spell.

"Hold on a moment Ethel." Constance instructed. She picked up a tall glass-stoppered bottle from her table and held it up for the class to see. "Within this bottle is a little something that will enable you all to see the magic that is being cast." She took in the confused expressions on the faces of the class. "There is something in here." She assured them. "You must remember that just because you can't see something, it doesn't mean that it isn't there."

Mildred took the opportunity of sneaking a look in Maud's direction at this comment. If there was one group of people that didn't need to be told that, it was the pupils at Cackles. They had all learned within a few weeks of arriving in the school that just because you couldn't see HB, it didn't mean that she wasn't there.

"When you are ready Ethel." Constance gripped the top of the bottle and waited for the spell to be cast. As the last words of the spell left Ethel's mouth, Constance pulled the stopper free and shook a little of the contents into the air.

There were gasps of surprise from the class as white sparks appeared in the air. They glittered and shone as they fluttered gently towards the ground

"Calm down girls." Constance warned the class. She looked around at the girls and noticed the confused expression on Drusilla's face. "Drusilla, is there something you don't understand?"

Drusilla pulled a face as she tried to order her thoughts.

"It's just that when you cast a spell, we can all see the stream of magic and when one of us attempts something bigger, the effects are visible as well…"

"And you are wondering why it should be necessary to be able to create something to see minor spells?"

Drusilla nodded.

"I mean, who would want to see them?" She saw the questioning look on her teacher's face and sought to clarify her answer. "Small spells tend not to be that potent; there isn't much that they can do, so why do you need to see them?"

"Why indeed?" Constance queried as she resealed the bottle and crossed to the far side of the classroom. "Small spells use only a fraction of the magic that a larger spell does and they stay in the air for only a few brief seconds." She pointed towards the sparkling points of light that were still dancing in the air. "And yet you can still see that there was a spell cast here. Yesterday I showed you how it was possible to move one object from one location to another. Now that takes a lot more magic to achieve." Constance opened the bottle again and cast a little of its contents into the air.

There were gasps as the air turned into a glittering shower of red particles; they danced and bobbed around in the same way that the white sparkles from Ethel's spell had done, but there were seemingly thousands of the little red lights.

"As I said." Constance raised her voice to talk over the excited chattering that was beginning to fill the room. "Magic stays in the air for a period of time after a spell has been cast. This little jar makes it possible to see just where that magic was cast and also gives a clue as to who did the casting."

Re-sealing the jar again, Constance strode back to the front of the class.

"You may be asking yourselves why I'm telling you all this?" She let her eyes sweep across the class. "Whoever was responsible for the act of desecration in the Great Hall must have used a lot of magic. With this," She tapped the jar firmly. "we should be able to work out who it was."

"But surely it will only tell you that there was magic present." Enid pointed out. Immediately she had spoken, she cringed; disagreeing with HB was not recommended. She was however let off with nothing more than a frown.

"Have any of you heard of magical fingerprinting?" Constance continued and waited for the murmur of no's that she had been expecting to die down before carrying on. "What it does is take the identification of magic to another level. Where these." She tapped the jar again. "Can indicate the presence of magic. This," She picked up a small phial of liquid from her desk. "Can give a clearer indication as to the identity of the witch who cast the magic."

"That's amazing." Maud breathed.

"It certainly is." Constance agreed with her. "Obviously the more magic that's in the air, the harder it becomes to sort out one strand of magic from another but it is possible." She let her eyes sweep across the room. "Whoever thinks that they've got away with vandalism in this school is in for a very rude awakening."

There was silence from the class and Constance smiled inwardly; everything was going exactly to plan.

* * *

Later as Amelia raised her teacup to her lips she could sense the expectation in Constance's demeanour. Whatever she was up to she was convinced of achieving a result. 

"What makes you so certain that you can catch the culprit?"

"The appliance of science." Constance told her cryptically as she took her place at the mantelpiece.

Amelia furrowed her brow as she shuffled in her seat, trying to make herself more comfortable.

"Science Constance. I didn't think that…"

"This is classical science Amelia." Constance cut across the question. "This is playing on the feelings of insecurity and guilt that the culprit will now be feeling."

The frown deepened on Amelia's face.

"I'm still not sure I follow Constance."

A faint smile ghosted across her deputy's face.

"Magical Fingerprinting." She said quietly.

Amelia's eyes widened and a smile lit up her face.

"I'd forgotten all about that old chestnut." A look of concern returned to her face after only a few moments. "Are you certain that they will fall for it?" She queried. "Young witches aren't as gullible as they used to be."

Constance's face took on a smug expression and she folded her arms.

"I think I can confidently say that they believed the demonstration I gave them this afternoon. I added in a few more sophisticated techniques and I think that will do the trick." Constance turned her head and stared into the fire. "All I need to do is wait in the Great Hall and I guarantee that the culprit will reveal themselves by the end of the evening."


	8. Chapter 8

_Sorry that this has taken me so long to post; I've been having a busy time and also trouble with making this chapter work. I think I'm happy with it now though. I'll try and make sure that the next chapter is up fairly soon. As always, many thanks to you guys who review._

* * *

With lessons over for the day, the ground floor of the school sank back into the shadows. The deserted corridors were silent apart from the occasional puff of expired magic and the urgent pattering feet of the few mice who were brave enough to risk a potential encounter with a roaming cat.

In the Great Hall, Constance settled herself back into the shadows and began, what she believed, would only be a short wait. She didn't imagine that the culprit, whoever it was, would be able to resist coming back to the hall in an attempt to remove what they believed to be their magical fingerprint. Constance blended in perfectly with the darkness that surrounded her and only an inquisitive visitor would be able to detect her presence in the room.

Elsewhere in the school there was the sound of slightly heavier feet; cloaked figures were creeping around in the shadows, desperate to avoid detection. Some were intent on disruption, whilst others were trying to play detective.

One of the parties contained three members. At the head of the small group was Mildred; she was accompanied on her venture by Maud and Enid. With the failure of the previous night's patrol; Mildred had wanted one last attempt at trying to find out who was responsible for causing the disruptions to the plans for parent's evening. It had not taken much persuading to get Maud and Enid to venture out with her.

As she crept along the corridor that led to the Great Hall, Mildred halted and raised a finger to her lips. She was certain that she could hear footsteps moving down the corridor towards her.

Maud pulled a face, as once again Mildred seemed to be jumping at shadows. She'd been pulled into dark corners all evening as Mildred imagined that she could hear someone coming. The only thing they'd met so far was Miss Hardbroom's cat, which had looked at them with the same expression of distain that its owner usually managed. Maud had had to bite her tongue to stop herself apologising to it.

"We're going to have to get back soon." Maud warned, as she tried to free herself from the folds of her cloak. "If HB catches us out here, then it's certain that she'll stop your parents from coming tomorrow night."

"Ssshhhh." Mildred motioned her friend to be quiet; she was certain that she could hear footsteps.

"What is it?" Enid hissed, as she too realised that she could hear something.

"Someone's coming. The footsteps are too heavy to be one of us." Mildred decided and tried to move back closer to the wall.

"I still can't hear anything." Maud protested, but she was silenced as Enid placed a hand over her mouth. She tried to protest but the looks on the faces of her two friends convinced her to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Her cloak was itching around her neck but Maud didn't dare raise a hand a move the offending piece of cloth. It had been Mildred's idea to wear the heavy cloaks; she had assured them that it was vital that they blend in with the shadows and she reasoned that the cloaks gave them the best camouflage, what she hadn't taken into account was the extra weight that they added and the inevitable itching that came with wearing them.

From their place in the shadows, the three girls watched with widening eyes as a strange shape emerged from out of the darkness and moved slowly towards the Great Hall.

"Can you see who it is?" Mildred wanted to know.

Enid shook her head as she tried to stare through the gloom of the dimly lit corridors. There had been numerous occasions where she wished that the school had electric lighting; none of the previous occasions had ever seemed so scary. She gasped as she caught sight again of the large, shapeless object that was coming out of the shadows. She felt Mildred grab her arm, and it took every ounce of strength she possessed not to scream. The 'figure' if that's what it was, was taller than she was. It had two legs, which it used for walking but appeared to be dragging something behind it. Its body was shapeless and Enid wasn't certain that she could make out where the body ended and the head began.

She stood rigid with fear as the shape turned towards the Great Hall and began to struggle with the door handles.

"Should we warn someone?" She hissed as quietly as she could.

She heard rather than saw Mildred shake her head; her friend's plaits making a tell-tale swishing sound as they moved.

"What's going on?" Maud protested, still unsure as to what was going happening.

"There appears to be a monster on the loose." Enid whispered, her voice quavering with fear.

* * *

Constance heard the sound of the door handles being grasped and pulled herself up an extra inch. This was one meeting that she had been looking forward to.

The doors creaked slowly open and a shambling, staggering figure entered the room. Its walk was slow and laboured and it seemed to lurch from side to side with every step.

"Mr Blossom!" Constance's voice nearly shattered the windows with its shrillness.

Frank Blossom dropped the huge bundle that he had been carrying in shock and clutched a hand to his chest as he stared into the inky blackness where the voice had come from.

"Get back." He stammered, trying to regain some sense of composure. "I'm not afraid of you, you know." He backed nervously away towards the door. He'd been at Cackle's long enough to know that there were certain things that you didn't mess with. Whatever this thing was, he didn't want to argue with it. "What do you want with me?" He finally summoned up the courage to ask it a question.

"What are you doing in here Mr Blossom?"

Frank Blossom frowned; it knew his name. More than that, it was calling him 'Mr'. He couldn't recall ever hearing about any spirit or poltergeist that was that formal.

"Just leave me alone." He pleaded with it. "I'm just doing my job." He stared into the dark and tried to get a glimpse of whatever it was. His breath caught in his throat as he glimpsed something ghosting out of the shadows. He couldn't make out any detail in the darkness, but whatever it was, it moved silently and gracefully in his direction, blending in perfectly with the inky blackness.

He felt the scream that was building in his throat. He tried to swallow; the last thing he wanted to do was let this thing, whatever it was, know that he was scared. Finally managing to contain his fear, he bent down and grabbed the nearest thing he could use as a weapon. "Stay back." He warned and waved the chair in the direction of the shadow. "I'm armed and I know how to use this."

"I'm sure that's fascinating." The voice told him.

Fear struck at his heart again; this time it was a fear that was all too familiar. This was a voice that he recognised, a voice that he tried to maintain a degree of patience with. He held his breath and waited as the figure continued to move out of the darkness of the shadows.

The light from the flickering candles, mounted in brackets on the wall, illuminated an all too familiar pale face.

"M…M….Miss Hardbroom." He finally managed to stammer. "You could frighten the life out of a man, standing around in the dark like that."

"I was not 'standing around'." She told him pointedly. "What on earth are you doing in here at this time of night?"

Frank looked down at the pile of shattered equipment that now lay on the floor.

"Well I had been planning on putting some lights up, but I'm guessing that not many of them survived the fright." He tried to work out what was going on. "What are you doing in here at this time of an evening?"

"Not that it's any of your concern but I was here with a view to apprehending the miscreant who saw fit to try and ruin the plans for parent's night."

"And you planned to do this by sitting in the dark?" There was a voice at the back of Frank's head, warning him that questioning Miss Hardbroom wasn't the most advisable course of action but his curiosity won out.

"As I said Mr Blossom, what I was doing in here was none of your concern." Constance frowned. "But thanks to your inspired entry into the room, I'm now certain that no pupil will venture forth this evening. Even the clumsiest of pupils could not have failed to miss your entrance."

She shot him a look that told him in no uncertain terms what she thought of him and his late night antics. He had the grace to look duly abashed, and Constance, satisfied with the response to her glare, remained silent as Mr Blossom headed out of the hall in search of a broom.

* * *

Mildred exchanged a look with Enid and tried to prevent herself from laughing as she caught the tail end of the interchange between HB and Mr Blossom. She didn't mind confessing to herself that she'd felt a wave of relief wash over her as she realised that the 'monster' they'd seen in the corridor was in fact Mr Blossom. She nudged Enid's arm as Mr Blossom headed past them.

"I think we should go." She sniggered. "I doubt that anything more is going to turn up this evening."

Enid nodded in agreement.

"With HB in waiting, I feel sorry for anyone who goes in there."

The two girls turned round and began to head off down the hallway.

"What's going on?" Maud was starting to lose patience with her two friends. So far she'd seen nothing and heard nothing but everything seemed to be over.

"Sshhh." Enid warned her and pulled her back into the shadows. Even though things seemed to be over, there was no harm in being cautious.

Maud took a deep breath and tried to rein her impatience in.

"Would someone mind telling me what is going on." She hissed under her breath.

Enid sighed and tried to explain as quickly as possible what had just happened.

When she had finished her explanation Maud let out a low whistle.

"We were lucky." She told the others. "If we'd walked into the hall then HB would have probably blamed us for what happened."

"Don't forget about the magical fingerprint." Mildred reminded her. "That would have proved that it wasn't one of us."

"Can we just get out of here?" Enid broke into the conversation. "We really will be missed if we don't get back to our rooms soon."

The three began to head back down the corridor towards the staircase back to their floor, hugging the shadows to avoid detection from anyone else who might be haunting the corridors at this late hour.

"I feel really silly sneaking around in the dark in my cloak." Mildred confessed.

"Sshh." Maud silenced her friend and stared into the darkness. "There's someone coming." She hissed.

Mildred turned her head and tried to make out a shape in the gloom.

"There's no-one there." She protested.

"Just because you didn't see anything back there, doesn't mean that you can try and scare us now." Enid warned her.

Maud shook her head and motioned again for her two friends to be quiet.

"There's someone coming." Maud argued. "I saw a shadow on the wall."

Mildred stared harder, willing herself to see what her friend had spotted. After a few moments, she shrugged her shoulders. "I'm sorry Maud, but there's nothing there."

Maud shook her head; she knew what she'd seen.

"Keep your eyes on the wall." She whispered in her friend's ear. "I tell you that there's a shadow."

"Rubbish." Enid mocked.

Mildred turned her attention back to the wall and gasped as she caught a brief glimpse of a shadow as it flitted past

"Oh my." She breathed. You think that's…." She let the sentence hang in the air.

"There's only one way to find out." Maud whispered back. She undid the hook on her cloak and silently slid it off her shoulders.

Mildred frowned.

"You can't catch shadows." She told her friend, but Maud shook her head.

"I think it's more than a shadow. As far as I'm aware, shadows don't make a sound when they move."

Mildred listened carefully and sure enough after a few moments, she made out the sound of boots on the stone flags.

"It's an invisibility spell." She breathed, as realisation sunk in.

"Only someone forgot the finessing." Enid was finally beginning to realise that Maud was indeed onto something. She watched as Mildred slid her cloak from off her shoulders. She felt her heart rate increase as she realised what her friends were preparing to do. If they could catch the culprit then they could prevent them from doing anything else to get parent's evening cancelled. She crossed her fingers and waited for an opportunity to join in and help.

Mildred held her breath until she was sure that the figure was in line with her. There was a ghost of a shadow on the wall opposite and the sound of a slight scuff of boots on Stone. She nodded at Maud and the pair of them launched their cloaks into the air. There was a muffled shout and the shape that was revealed by the two cloaks immediately fought to free itself.

Mildred and Maud leapt from the shadows and took a firm hold of the figure that had been revealed. The shape twisted and turned beneath the folds of the cloak and the girls had a hard job keeping a grip on their captive. Ignoring the muffled shouts of complaint they pushed the covered figure towards the nearest classroom, pausing only while Enid opened the door.

"Reveal yourself." Mildred demanded as they let go of the figure and pushed them into the centre of the room. Mildred hoped that she was managing to keep the quaver out of her voice but she wasn't sure that her attempt was managing to convince anyone.

"Yeah, show yourself." Maud grabbed hold of Mildred's arm, hoping for a feeling of extra security and then nearly let out a squeal of fright as Enid grabbed her free hand.

"I'm sorry." The muffled voice beneath the cloaks told them. "I didn't mean to cause any trouble."

The three girls froze; they recognised the voice. They looked at each other and shook their heads; there was no way that it could be who they thought it was.

As one they stepped forward and pulled the cloaks free.

"Ruby!"

There was a shimmer and Ruby slowly materialised in front of them.

The three friends starred at Ruby with open-mouths, not really believing that their friend could be responsible for what had been going on

Ruby stared down at her feet and wished that she was somewhere else. If she was honest with herself, she'd not really given much thought as to how the others would react once they found out what was going on.

"Tell us that it wasn't you." Maud implored her friend. "Tell us that you were out hunting for the culprit as well."

Ruby closed her eyes and made no attempt to answer.

"But that means…" Mildred let sentence drop away as she had to face the realisation that Ruby really was to blame for everything that had happened.

"I don't understand why you were doing it." Enid made her position clear. She pushed in front of her friends and confronted Ruby. "You could spoil this for all of us."

Ruby looked up at the hard tone in Enid's voice.

"You've done nothing but complain about parent's evening since it was first mentioned." She pointed out.

"I may have complained but I didn't make it my life's mission to try and ruin it for everyone else."

"Ruin it for everyone else?" Ruby's tone went up a level. "You sound just like one of the teachers when we're out on a school trip."

Enid folded her arms and glared at her friend, her body language making it clear that she wasn't happy.

Mildred looked from one girl to the other and decided that it was time to try and stop the argument from escalating any further.

"I'm sure Ruby didn't mean to cause any trouble." She began, but Enid let out a snort of derision.

"Didn't mean to cause any trouble? Didn't mean to cause any trouble? Have you been paying attention to everything that's been going on this week Millie? Ruby has been on some kind of single-minded mission to get parent's evening cancelled. Don't you think that perhaps she owes us an explanation?"

Mildred turned her head to look at Ruby. She had to admit that Enid had a point; if they hadn't discovered Ruby then it was highly likely that she would have attempted something else and parent's evening would have been cancelled.

"Why try and sabotage the night?" Mildred asked her friend as gently as she could.

Ruby shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

"My parents wanted to come."

Enid and Mildred exchanged glances.

"I know I wasn't that keen on my parents putting in an appearance but I didn't resort to such drastic measures." Enid pointed out.

"You don't understand." Ruby's voice grew louder. "They **both** wanted to come."

"So…" Mildred was at a loss to understand why this was such a problem.

"So…" Ruby picked up the thought. "They split up a couple of months ago and I don't want to have to choose which one of them to invite."

There was silence in the room as the news sank in. The three friends glanced at each other; each one hoping that the other had the right words to break the atmosphere that was building in the room.

"I'm sorry." Mildred finally broke the silence.

Ruby shrugged her shoulders.

"It's ok."

"Why didn't you tell one of us about it?" Maud asked as gently as she could.

Ruby shrugged her shoulders again.

"I kind of kept hoping that everything would sort itself out but it just seemed to get worse and worse."

Maud winced.

"It must have been awful for you."

"I thought being here would have stopped them dragging me into it and trying to make me choose sides."

Enid narrowed her eyes.

"How could they do that to you?"

"I don't think they meant to, it's just that I always end up feeling as though I'm walking on egg shells when I'm around them." Ruby sniffed and tried to keep back the tears that were starting to prick the back of her eyes. "I dread to think of the scene they'd cause if they were both to show up here. It's like they can't be in the same room for more than a few minutes without arguing."

"Can't you just tell them that parent's evening has been called off?" Mildred suggested.

"Well that would work until my mother picked up the phone and called the school!" Ruby pointed out.

"Have you tried talking to them about it?"

"Of course I have." Ruby snapped, with slightly more impatience than she intended. "How do you explain to your parents that you don't want them at your school? And it'd be worse if I didn't invite one of them and then they found out later that the other came." She looked from Mildred to Enid and then to Maud. "I don't want to have to choose between them. It's just not fair. I thought it would be better if the whole event was cancelled and then neither of them would have to come."

Mildred spotted the tears that were springing to Ruby's eyes and decided that she had to do something about the situation.

"Let them both come." She told her friend confidently. "We'll keep them apart."

"How?" Enid asked, and received a glare from Mildred in response.

"Well I haven't actually worked that part out yet." She admitted. "But there must be something we can do."

"It's impossible." Enid stated bluntly and Mildred glared at her friend again.

"Just whose side are you on?" She hissed under her breath.

"I'm sure we'll think of something." Maud added her voice but her words lacked conviction.

"Enid's right." Ruby protested. "There's no way that we're going to be able to keep them apart all night." She stared down at her hands. "I guess I'll have to choose which one is going to come."

"Don't give up yet." Mildred persisted. "There's got to be something we can do." She took her friend's hand. "Tell them both to come. It'll be fine, I promise you."

Ruby looked at Mildred and after a few seconds her face broke into a sad smile.

"Thanks Millie; with HB on the case it's probably all immaterial anyway. She's going to find out that it was me and then I'll probably be heading straight out of here by tomorrow."

"I doubt Miss Cackle would allow that." Maud protested. "If you talked to her, I'm sure she'd understand."

"You came really close to walking in on HB." Enid remarked; the tone of her voice making it clear that she was still less than happy with Ruby's antics. "She was in the Great Hall waiting for you."

Ruby looked down at her feet again.

"I'm really sorry; I didn't mean for it to go this far. I was sure that HB would make Miss Cackle cancel the evening after the first whiff of trouble. I didn't expect her to be so set on the evening happening." Ruby looked up and met the gaze of Maud and Mildred. "I'm really sorry about your display in the Great Hall; it did look amazing."

There was a hoot of an owl from somewhere outside and Mildred suddenly remembered the hour.

"We'll have to work on this tomorrow." She told Ruby quickly. "HB's due on rounds in a few minutes and if we're not back in our rooms then there's going to be trouble for everyone."

Ruby smiled thinly at Mildred.

"I think there's going to be trouble for me whatever happens."

Mildred squeezed the arm of her friend.

"It'll all be fine." She promised her.

Mildred watched Ruby walk off and then turned her head to see Enid glaring at her.

"What?" She asked defensively.

"We've got no chance in keeping Ruby's parents apart. I think it's mean of you to raise her expectations like that."

"I'll think of something." Mildred protested with more confidence than she really felt.

Enid shook her head and then took off, following the route that Ruby had taken. Mildred looked to Maud for support. Maud smiled at her but she could sense the uneasiness in her friend's eyes.

"I'm sure things will look better in the morning." Maud tried her best to sound optimistic.

Mildred nodded slowly.

"I'm sure we'll think of something. We have to think of something."

* * *

"So you didn't discover anything?" Amelia sighed as she poured herself a cup of tea from the pot that sat on her desk.

Constance pursed her lips.

"It was hardly my fault Amelia. How was I to know that Mr Blossom was going to come blundering into the hall? That stupid inconsiderate man ruined everything."

"Now don't be too hard on him Constance, after all he was only doing his job."

"At that time in the evening?" Constance was indignant. "I would have thought that there were enough hours in the working day for him to put up a few extra lights. Quite why he felt the need to wait until evening to complete the task is beyond me."

"I believe that he was trying to keep out of everybody's way." Amelia explained but Constance 'Harrumphed' in response and took her customary place at the fireplace.

"Surely it's not too late to call the whole thing off?" She insisted.

Amelia turned to regard her colleague and frowned.

"I thought we'd agreed that you'd give the evening a chance." She reminded her.

Constance narrowed her eyes.

"No Miss Cackle, if you remember, it was you who decided that I was going to give this ridiculous charade a 'fair chance', I on the other hand said no such thing." She folded her arms and fixed Amelia with the sort of firm glare that she usually reserved for first years who dared to claim that their cat had eaten their homework. "This is a mistake, this is a folly of epic proportions that will only end in tears." She drew herself up to her full height. "Do not let it be said that I did not tell you so."

"Constance please." Miss Cackle tried to appease her deputy. "I'm asking for a little co-operation, that's all."

Constance turned away from the confrontation, casting her gaze in the direction of the open window.

"What exactly is it about this night that bothers you so, hmm?" Amelia wanted to know.

She followed Constance with her eyes as the potions teacher moved to stand in front of the window.

Constance stared out at the quiet courtyard. She took in the broom shed with the brooms lined up neatly inside it; she looked at the tall, thick, walls with their craggy spires and battlements and sighed.

"This castle has been home to young witches for many years; the very walls of the building are imbued with magic. There is something unique about this place. You open up the doors and let in the madness of the outside world and you can't ever close that door again. This is a special place Amelia; let in the chaos of the world beyond these walls and things will never be the same again." Constance's voice was quiet and Amelia had to confess that her words sent a shiver down her spine.


	9. Chapter 9

_As promised, another update. Parent's evening is almost upon us...Big thanks as always for the reviews; they really do lift an afternoon at work._

* * *

Imogen was making her way towards her room, in search of a much needed soak in the tub. She had spent the afternoon with the 3rd years; trying to persuade them that running around in all weathers was a good thing. There had been only one way to convince them and that had involved her running around like a lunatic herself; trying to prove to them that she was fitter than any of them. She was finally beginning to realise that she was no longer as energetic as a teenager. The muscles in her legs were aching and there was a pain in her shoulders that could only be relieved by a long relaxing soak in a tub full of bubbles. 

She let her mind drift, and moments later she could see a virtual tub that was overflowing with soft, soapy bubbles, she sighed contentedly as she imagined sinking beneath the inviting water. Her image of bliss was shattered a second later when a bony finger jabbed her hard in the shoulder and brought her sharply back to reality.

"Imogen." An all too familiar voice hissed in her ear. "I've got it."

Imogen spun on her heel and, in doing so, nearly fell over Miss Bat who was standing only inches from her. Clutched tightly to the chanting teacher's chest was a deep red folder that was tightly bound with a blue silk ribbon. Imogen swallowed; there was only one thing that could be contained within that folder, her heart began beating a little faster at the thought of what might be written within.

There was a part of Imogen's brain that was annoyed with Davina and wanted to let her know, in no uncertain terms, how she felt at having her dreams of bubble baths ruined. Equally there was a part of her brain that was thrilled to have the history of Constance Hardbroom so close at hand. She mentally weighed up the two options until one of them finally won out.

Her face broke into a wide grin.

"Follow me." She beckoned Davina to follow her and the pair of them headed towards

Imogen's quarters.

Imogen opened up the door to her room and ushered Davina inside. For reasons she couldn't explain, she felt the need to peer back out into the corridor and check in both directions again before finally closing the door.

Leaning back up against the door, she gave her full attention to Davina, who was standing in the middle of the room, staring around with wide-opened eyes; the red file still clutched tightly to her chest.

"What is it?" The sight of her colleague looking so ill at ease unnerved Imogen. "Is there something in that file that you think I shouldn't see? What is it?" She paused, waiting for Davina to respond. Her eyes widened. "Is it so bad that you can't tell me? Come on Davina, out with it."

Davina finally turned her attention to Imogen. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying to get her composure back.

"You painted the walls." She finally stammered before sitting heavily down on the edge of Imogen's bed. "You painted the walls blue."

"What!" Imogen stared at her colleague and tried to work out if this was really what was disturbing her so much. Davina's eyes seemed slightly glazed and were again fixing on the walls. Imogen sighed heavily and leant forward, clicking her fingers in front of Davina's face.

"They're blue…" Davina muttered quietly. "Oh so blue…."

"Good grief." Imogen clicked her fingers again, trying to snap the chanting teacher out of her daze. "It's only a lick of paint Davina."

It dawned on Imogen that this was the first time that anyone from the school had been within her rooms since Miss Cackle had first shown her around. She had asked Amelia if she had permission to decorate her room as she saw fit and had received an answer in the positive. She'd never thought to check if painting was among the things that were considered permissible. Painting the walls was obviously something that Davina had never thought of.

Imogen sighed and moved across to the far side of the room, where she took a seat at her dressing table. She glanced quickly at her watch and prayed that Davina's loss of focus wasn't going to be a long one.

* * *

Mildred, Enid and Maud were gathered together in Mildred's room. Silence hung in the air and there was a definite frosty atmosphere. 

Enid glared at Mildred.

"Tell them both to come. It'll be fine, I promise you." She mimicked Mildred's comment to Ruby from the previous night.

Mildred glared back at her friend.

"Well what was I supposed to say? I couldn't just stand there and tell her that she was on her own."

"Yes you could." Enid snapped back. "You could have done practically anything other than volunteer to do the impossible." Enid rose to her feet and began pacing the room. "I don't know how you imagine we're going to keep Ruby's warring parents apart."

"We'll think of something." Maud decided that it was time to try to stick up for her friend.

Enid turned her glare upon the girl.

"Well we've been here for the past few hours and the best idea we've had so far is to fake a call from Miss Cackle saying that the evening has been called off."

"Well I still think it might work." Mildred replied hotly, upset that her idea had been dismissed out of hand.

Maud turned to explain to her friend.

"And everything would be fine until Miss Cackle sent out the letters thanking everyone for attending."

"Or one of the other parents mentioned something." Enid pointed out. "I do believe that Ruby's parents talk to other people."

Mildred glared at Enid. There were times when her friend could be absolutely maddening.

"There must be some kind of spell that would keep them apart?" Mildred tried to think of something positive. "Some kind of separation spell."

Maud winced.

"A separation spell **would **prevent them getting close, but it would also mean that one of them would be pushed away when the other got too close, I think that they might notice that."

Mildred pulled a face.

"I hadn't thought of that."

"And it's going to have to be pretty impressive to fool HB." Enid reminded her. "I don't think she's going to be impressed by any spell in your repertoire, seeing as she's taught you pretty much everything that you know."

Mildred let her head sink into her hands.

"I just want to help Ruby." She stated mournfully. "I didn't think it was going to be this hard."

Maud and Enid exchanged glances. It was, they both agreed, very hard to stay angry with Mildred for long. She always did things with the best of intentions although she rarely thought things through properly.

"I'll go and see Fenny and Gris, see if they can't think of something." Enid turned towards the door. "If anyone in this place knows underhand spells they shouldn't know…."

Mildred smiled.

"It's Fenny and Gris." She completed the sentence. "Thanks Enid."

Enid simply smiled at her friend and left the room.

Mildred turned her head and met Maud's gaze.

"I was only trying to help Ruby." She reminded her friend.

Maud shook her head.

"There are time's Millie when you need to remember not to try and promise the impossible."

* * *

Amelia raised her head as the staff room door swung open on creaking hinges. The bell had gone five minutes ago and she was somewhat surprised to be the only member of staff to have sought sanctuary in the room. Usually she was one of the last to arrive; Davina was always first through the door, heading for the urn in the corner as though she might collapse without a much-needed cup of herbal tea. 

She opened her mouth to greet the chanting teacher and was somewhat surprised when Constance walked into the room.

Amelia looked around the room again, just checking that she hadn't simply failed to spot the chanting teacher; Davina did seem to possess an unerring ability to blend in with the furniture.

When her check confirmed that Davina was indeed missing, Amelia frowned; it really wasn't like Davina to be so late.

"Afternoon Constance." She greeted her deputy absentmindedly; her attention still very much on trying to work out where Davina might be hidden.

"I, for one, will be happy when parent's evening is behind us." Constance announced as she took her customary place at the table.

She waited for a response from Amelia, and when none was forthcoming, she raised her head and regarded her.

"Is there something the matter?"

"What?" Amelia forced herself back to the present. "Oh I'm sorry Constance. I was just wondering where Davina was."

Constance let out a snort of derision.

"Probably hiding in the stationary cupboard as usual."

"No…I've checked."

"Really!" Despite herself, Constance was surprised but she quickly hid the emotion. "Perhaps she's rehearsing something 'special' for parent's night?"

Amelia winced.

"I hope not." She looked around the room again. "I wonder where Imogen is? It's not like her not to stop by for a chat?"

"Have you checked the stationary cupboard?" Constance asked smoothly.

Amelia frowned, certain that she was missing something. She decided that it was safer to change the subject "Constance, a message arrived for you this morning?"

Constance frowned.

"I wasn't expecting anything."

Amelia smiled.

"But there's something here all the same."

Constance let out a sigh of frustration; she never liked receiving unexpected messages. In her experience, unexpected messages never brought anything but bad news. If a person were suitably organised then they would send their messages at the appropriate time; unexpected messages were something to be suspicious of.

She stepped forward and took the crisp white envelope from her, otherwise empty, pigeonhole. In removing her message, she only narrowly avoided knocking the contents of Miss Bat's pigeonhole to the floor. Despite several attempts by Miss Drill to convince Davina that the pigeon in question was only figurative and not literal, Imogen had still not managed to prevent Davina from lining the bottom of the slot with straw and installing a little ladder, a bell and a cuttlefish.

Constance frowned in disapproval as bits of straw fluttered to the floor. She momentarily wondered where the feathers that fell with them had come from, but then discounted the thought and turned her attention instead to the letter.

She turned the new arrival over and over, trying to work out where the interruption to her day had come from.

Amelia watched the usual routine with barely concealed amusement.

"You could just open the letter Constance." She advised her colleague.

Constance sighed.

"If it is going to turn out to be nothing more than another letter from one of those interminable broomstick insurance companies, then I certainly do not wish to waste time in opening it."

"I don't think you need to worry about receiving anything from them again." Amelia tried to reassure her colleague. Constance seemed oblivious to the fact that she had scared the life out of every single insurance company with her threat to turn them all into frogs and was now the only witch that didn't receive 15 letters a week offering her cheaper insurance cover.

Constance's frown deepened and, for a moment, Amelia feared that someone had dared to offer her 3rd party cover.

"I wonder what the WTC wants with me?"

Amelia was suddenly on the alert.

"The WTC?"

It wasn't often that the WTC sent out letters. They were the sort of organisation that would turn up at the doorstep without warning and complain when you weren't there to greet them. Letters from the WTC usually only happened in certain circumstances. They either wanted to know why you had recommended a witch that it turned out was wholly unsuitable to become a teacher; something that no one could dare to suggest to Constance; or they contacted you when they wanted you to take up a new post. Amelia swallowed nervously; although Constance wasn't always the easiest member of staff to get along with, Amelia found that she couldn't imagine the school without her.

Constance was oblivious to the panic she was causing as she let her eyes glide over the stamp that the WTC insisted on using on all their stationary. The design was a little ostentatious for her taste but she reasoned that someone at the WTC must think that it was necessary.

"What's the news? Amelia asked as airily as she could, wiping at an invisible spot on the table.

"Sorry?" Constance turned her head and regarded Amelia, wondering why she was rubbing frantically at the desk.

"The letter…" Amelia hinted.

Constance shrugged.

"It's probably nothing." She made to return it to the pigeonhole. "I'll read it later."

"Why wait?" Amelia winced as she realised that her voice had just shot up an octave.

Constance regarded Amelia with an arched eyebrow, she briefly considered making some comment but then decided that it really wasn't that important. She stared at the envelope again and then shrugged her shoulders. She slid one nail beneath the seal and opened the envelope.

Inside was a single sheet of paper, neatly folded into three. Constance withdrew the sheet and cast her eyes over the tightly written script that was written upon the page.

"What do they want?" Amelia tried to maintain a sense of disinterest in her voice but realised that her efforts were falling way short of the mark.

She was therefore more than a little frustrated when Constance simply folded the letter back up again and slid it back inside the envelope.

"If you'll excuse me Headmistress." Constance's tone was even and Amelia wanted to shout at her that it wasn't ok to simply walk off without telling her what was contained within the letter, but she managed to contain her frustration and indicated that her colleague was free to depart.

Amelia was so wrapped up in her own fears of what the letter might contain, that she missed the anger that was radiating from her colleague as she strode from the room. Whatever the news was, it wasn't something that Constance was pleased to read.

* * *

Davina blinked several times and tried to work out where she was. She swallowed nervously and tried to quell the warble of fear that was building in her throat. She looked around at the painted walls and closed her eyes again. She took a deep breath and tried to explain the situation. 

"This is a witch's school." She began.

"And these are my private rooms." Imogen was fast running out of patience with her colleague. "What does it matter if I choose to paint the walls?"

"This is a witch's school." Davina repeated simply, not understanding what Imogen was failing to grasp.

"I know this is a witch's school." Imogen attempted a slightly different approach. "I'm well aware of the fact that I teach in a witch's school; the number of times that I've been the victim of magical pranks in the last couple of years has made me patently aware of the fact that the girls I teach are witches."

"But you've painted your walls."

"Arrrggghhhh." Imogen let out some of the frustration that had been building up inside of her. "What does it matter if I paint the walls?"

Davina shrank back at Imogen's outburst. She twitched slightly and her eyes flicked in the direction of Imogen's wardrobe.

"I thought you understood that Cackle's had standards." She blustered, her nerves reaching breaking point.

"I do understand that." Imogen replied as patiently as she could, knowing that if she upset the chanting teacher, she could well find herself with a room-mate for the next couple of weeks and no visiting rights to her clothes. "What I don't understand is what painting the walls has to do with lowering standards."

Davina stared at Imogen in disbelief; there were time when she couldn't believe how dense her colleague could be; had she really learnt so little during her time at Cackles?

She opened her mouth to voice her protest again and wondered just how long it would take to clear the matter up. Imogen cut across her reply.

"Could you just forget the walls for a minute?"

Davina sniffed.

"That's not going to be easy." She shifted the file into one hand and pulled her shawl tighter around her shoulders. "They really are very blue."

Imogen sighed heavily and bit back the stinging words that were on the tip of her tongue.

"What say we leave the debate on the merits of the colour of the walls for a later time?" She pointed to the file. "I believe that there is something far more interesting that we could be discussing."

Davina followed Imogen's pointing finger and smiled.

* * *

There were many things learnt by the pupils at Cackles that were not taught during lesson time. One was that you never touched the bubble and squeak unless you were certain that you had a cast iron stomach; another was that you were also under no circumstances to ask Miss Bat about the merits of certain chants, unless you had a spare 4 hours and didn't mind hearing the same part of the story told seven times in three different ways. But of all the things to be understood, the one that was to be obeyed without exception was that under no circumstances were you ever to attempt to get in HB's way when she stalked through the corridors. Stalking was unmistakable; it was different to the usual stride and, once seen, was easily identifiable. If the school happened to be falling down around your ears, you might be permitted to try to engage her in conversation but unless that particular circumstance arose, you were well advised to keep your distance. And so it was that afternoon that pupils were seen diving for cover as though their lives depended on it as Constance made her way to the area of the castle where the teacher's own rooms were located.

* * *

"I can't open it." Davina announced finally after staring at the file for a good few minutes. 

Imogen clicked her tongue against her teeth.

"Is it magically sealed? I guess we should have thought of that."

Davina looked blankly at her.

"There's no magic seal, I'm just not sure we should be doing this."

"It was your idea." Imogen reminded her but Davina shook her head

"I'm not sure this is a good idea."

Imogen reached forward and gently took the red file from Davina. There was no way that she was going to pass up this opportunity. The file felt heavy in her hands and she weighed it up, trying to guess exactly how much information it might contain.

She was vaguely aware of movement on the periphery of her vision. She heard Davina's muttered goodbye but was too wrapped up in the file to respond.

Laying the file down on her bed, she slowly pulled on the blue ribbon that was wrapped around it. The loops of the bow opened smoothly and Imogen let out a steady breath as she realised she was only one step away from finally finding out exactly who Constance Hardbroom was. She'd finally be able to answer back whenever the imposing potions teacher tried to put her down, or ridicule her ideas. She'd finally have some dirt on the seemingly untouchable deputy-head. A smile formed on her face as she realised just how much she was looking forward to this.

She let go of the ribbon and it dropped down onto the bed. Imogen stared down at the file; there was now nothing between her and the contents within. She took a deep breath and wiped the palms of her hands on her tracksuit bottoms. She then shook out her fingers and cautiously reached for the front cover of the file.

The first page was something of a disappointment and Imogen hoped that the rest of the file would divulge something more interesting than a name and the dates of attendance at the school. Imogen screwed her eyes up as she tried to make out the years of attendance. The day and the month were clear enough to read, but the moment that she tried to focus on the year, the numbers on the page seemed to swim before her eyes. Imogen sighed impatiently and wondered fleetingly if Constance had in some way doctored her file to make the interesting things impossible to read.

Finally giving up on trying to work out the dates, Imogen turned the page and greedily took in the first page proper of the file.

* * *

Constance's pace never faltered as she left the empty rooms of Miss Bat. The letter she had received from the WTC, signed only 'Concerned' had informed her that her personnel file had been reported as missing from the archives. The tone of the letter indicated that the writer assumed that she was responsible for the files' removal from the depository and strongly suggested that she should return it forthwith. Constance was certain that she knew who was responsible for the files' removal. The magical trace on the file had, according to the contact at the WTC, indicated that the file was now somewhere within the castle, and Constance could only think of one witch who would have the necessary contacts to get a file released from the archive. 

She'd swept into Davina's room without knocking, hoping to catch her colleague in the act of reading the file. She'd prepared a little scathing speech on the way over and was more than a little disappointed that the room was empty; well empty apart from Davina's cat which took one look at Constance and swiftly dived for cover.

If Davina wasn't hanging around in her room, the chances were that she was skulking around in Imogen's quarters. If she was honest with herself, Constance wasn't exactly sure where Imogen's room was. She assumed that the P.E teacher had been given the room vacated by Clara Stride after her brief, and altogether forgettable, stay at Cackles. Constance tutted as she thought about the school's previous attempt at having a non-witch teacher. Clara Stride had never really come to terms with the fact that magic was something real and tangible. She'd quivered and hidden in her room the first time that she'd seen someone turned into a frog and then had run screaming from the place after she'd accidentally walked into one of Miss Cackle's less than serious spell-casting lessons. As Amelia herself had remarked 'if the girl can't cope with the sight of witches floating around the room on whoopee cushions then it's probably better that she doesn't remain within the school'. Constance sniffed; as far as she was concerned, it was far better if there were no non-magical teachers; what the girls could possibly learn from someone who didn't know the difference between a broomstick for flying and one for cleaning the floor was quite beyond her.

Narrowing her eyes at the memory of wrestling her broom from Imogen before she tried to clear up some spilled semolina pudding with it, Constance turned a corner in the corridor and headed towards Imogen's room.


	10. Chapter 10

_Another chapter that proved harder to write than I first imagined. It's taken a bit of a bashing and this was the end result. Fingers crossed that it doesn't disappoint._

* * *

The words flowed before her eyes and Imogen tried her best to keep up with them, they seemed to fall from the page faster than she could read them and Imogen was beginning to believe that Constance's file was in some way enchanted. The words painted pictures in her head and she was unable to stop them. She saw with impossible clarity the things that Constance had done and had done to her throughout her formative years. She saw in rapid succession each victory and defeat that had helped to shape Constance into the woman that she now was. She saw in glorious Technicolor, events that, if confronted with, Constance would never admit to. Imogen wanted to stop reading, to stop and to reseal the file, but now that she had started reading, she found that she was unable to stop. After the first term report, she'd tried to put the file back down but found that her hands wouldn't obey her. She instead found herself picking up sheet after sheet and the intimate details of Constance's life and education flooded into her brain.

Finally she reached the last sheet of paper in the file and with a breathless sigh, she closed the red cover. She swallowed slowly and tried to take in everything that she had just read. The picture that had been painted was not of the Constance Hardbroom that she knew. She shook her head slowly, if the details in the file were correct… She let the thought drop away, not wanting to dwell on the things that the pages had revealed. Of all the things she'd ever suspected about Constance's past, nothing had come close to the details that she had just read.

She reached down and slowly retied the blue ribbon around the file, wishing that she could banish from her brain the things that she had just read. There were images in her mind, snapshots of a life that she now fervently wished she knew nothing about.

"I would apologise for not knocking, but in the circumstances it seems a little redundant."

Imogen's head snapped up as she heard the unmistakable cold tones of Constance. Sure enough, there was her colleague, silhouetted in the open doorway.

Feeling very much like a child being caught doing something she shouldn't, she tried to meet Constance's piercing gaze. She opened and closed her mouth, trying to form words that would accurately convey the emotions she was currently feeling.

"Constance I…" Her voice tailed off as she realised that she still didn't know what to say to her colleague. What she had read within the file had shocked her and now she was unsure as to how she should react.

"I suppose it's pointless to ask whether or not you've read what was in my file? The way that your mouth is flapping open and closed like a goldfish tells me everything I need to know about your guilt." Constance's voice was emotionless. "Despite what you may think, I do still have friends at the WTC and they were good enough to inform me that someone was showing interest in my files. It didn't take much imagination to work out who that 'someone' might be." Constance looked around the room, expecting to see Davina hiding somewhere. Her eyes settled on Imogen's wardrobe. "I take it you weren't alone in your little venture?"

Imogen clutched the file to her chest, as though trying to protect it.

"Davina isn't here." She stammered. "She played no part in this."

Constance arched an eyebrow.

"So are you saying that you have contacts in the WTC? Pardon me for saying that I find that a little hard to believe."

"Well maybe she was involved… a little."

"A little?"

"She hasn't seen the file." Imogen protested.

"And I'm supposed to be pleased about that?"

"I didn't mean…." Imogen tried to explain but found that the words just wouldn't come.

"Did you see what you expected?" Constance's words were clipped and cold. "Are you happy now?"

Imogen closed her eyes and wondered just where to start. There was a part of her that wished that Constance would shout at her, rage at her, and make her feel guilty. But Constance was devoid of any emotion and asked the questions in the same manner that she might enquire as to the time of day.

"I never meant…" She trailed off again. She knew that she couldn't stand there and say that she never meant things to go this far. Her original intention had been to get her hands on the files and now she'd achieved that she wished for nothing more than the ability to turn time back and cancel the whole thing.

"I had no idea…" She tried again to make amends but her words dried up as she met the cold, emotionless gaze of Constance. 'Why should you have any idea?' those cold eyes said to her. 'What business is it of yours what happened to me?'

"Are you now planning to share your 'find' with the rest of the staff?" Constance demanded to know. "I bet you can't wait to spread your news around."

"It's not like that." Imogen snapped back, immediately regretting her anger. She held up a hand by way of apology. When she spoke again, her tone was softer. "I'm sorry I ever started this, I really am."

"Well I suppose that makes it alright then!" There was more than a hint of sarcasm edging its way into Constance's voice.

"I just wanted to…"

"To what?" Constance let the question hang in the air for a few seconds before continuing. "To poke your nose into someone else's affairs? To go behind the back of a fellow member of staff? To try and dredge up some dirt that you imagined you could use against them? All very noble principles I'm sure."

"You don't make it easy sometimes you know." Imogen told her. "You stare down your nose at me as though I was nothing more than dirt on the bottom of your shoe. I have just as much right to be here as you do." Imogen looked at the tall imposing figure before her, who was the very embodiment of what it meant to be a witch and she suddenly became very away of how small and insignificant she looked standing there in a muddy tracksuit. It perhaps, she felt, didn't put her on an even footing in the argument.

She sighed heavily and looked down at the file that she held in her hands.

"Sometimes the truth isn't what any of us wish to know." Constance said quietly. "You wanted to know who I am, well now you do. Take your knowledge and do with it what you will."

Imogen watched as Constance turned on her heel and prepared to leave the room. She shook her head; she had wanted the file to gain some little secret that she could use against her colleague; she had wanted some childish prank, some chink in Constance's armour that showed that she was just as fallible as the rest of them. She hadn't wanted to read the things that she had ended up reading; there were things about people that no-one else needed to know. She closed her eyes.

"If it's any consolation to you, I wish that I could just turn back time." Imogen admitted. "I wish I could take it back and then none of this would ever have happened." She trailed off as a thought struck her. "You couldn't, could you? ... Could you?"

"Use magic for such a selfish and trivial thing?" Constance scorned. "You think I could just point my fingers and…" Constance raised her hands as though she was about to cast a spell.

Imogen looked around, trying to work out what was going on…She shook her head and tried to clear the confusion. She caught sight of Constance and was immediately on the alert.

Constance held out one hand and nodded down at the file.

"It would appear that I arrived here in the nick of time. The file?" She paused. "If you wouldn't mind"

Imogen looked down at the red file that was clasped in her hands, and her face immediately flushed with embarrassment.

"I'm…I'm…" She stumbled, caught red-handed, literally.

"I'm sure you are." Constance replied smoothly.

Imogen looked again at the files in her hands and then up to the impassive face of Constance. She knew that the decision she made now could change forever the relationship she had with her colleague. She nearly laughed out loud at the thought. If she was honest with herself, she had never really had anything that could even be loosely described as a relationship with Constance Hardbroom. Constance wasn't the sort of person that had time for anyone, unless they were as dedicated to their craft as she was to hers. She had tried to get to know the woman when she'd first arrived at Cackle's. She remembered just how nervous she'd been when she entered the school for the first time; it wasn't everyday that a person was accepted to teach at a witch school. Her fears had initially been allayed by the warm greeting that Miss Cackle had given her. She had shown her to her room and then taken her to the staff room to meet the other teachers. Miss Bat had been equally as welcoming, although the way that she had been happily munching on a handful of roses had been more than a little unsettling.

Constance, of course, had simply appeared out of thin air as if that was the most natural thing in the world and completely ignored her as she stood there, mouth opening and closing as though she were a goldfish.

Even when Miss Cackle had gone to the trouble of introducing her, Constance had only given her a terse glance and muttered something under her breath about a waste of money and then faded from view.

Imogen shook her head at the memory. She had tried several times in the weeks that followed to break the ice with the potions teacher, but Constance had rebuffed every approach and simply stared down her nose at her as though she were some kind of particularly nasty smell.

Over the last couple of years, she supposed, that that pair of them had simply agreed to tolerate each other. There was certainly no love lost between them, but Imogen had to confess that she couldn't imagine the school without its fearsome potions teacher; she seemed as much a part of the school as the draughty hallways and the tall gothic towers.

That thought foremost in her mind, she knew that there could only be one answer to the situation she found herself in.

"I'm sorry Constance." She apologised. "I had no right to do this." She held the file out towards her colleague. "I've not looked at the contents, in case you wondered."

Constance took two paces forward and gently took the file from Imogen's outstretched hand.

"Thank you." She acknowledged quietly. She placed the file down on the desk and pointed her spell-casting fingers at it. "I think it should be returned to the place where it came from, don't you?"

Imogen watched as magic sparked from Constance's fingers and enveloped the thick red file. For a moment, the edges of the file seemed to glow and then it simply disappeared. Imogen shook her head slowly; she knew that she would never fail to be amazed by the ease with which her colleague made the impossible seem mundane.

"Constance, I…" Imogen wanted to explain further, but Constance raised a hand and stopped her.

"Everything is back where it should be." She announced evenly. "I believe this concludes the matter." She bowed her head slightly in Imogen's direction. "Now if you'd excuse me, I have lesson plans to attend to."

Imogen watched in disbelief as Constance turned on her heel and silently departed the room. She had been certain that Constance was going to be angry with her and demand that she apologise at the very least. What she hadn't expected was her colleague to take the matter so calmly and to dismiss it so out of hand. She shook her head and swore for the umpteenth time that she would never ever understand Constance Hardbroom.

* * *

Constance swept down the corridor and allowed a slight smile to form on her face. There had been a moment when she had feared that the truth would come out, but Imogen's wish to lose the knowledge that she had learnt had enabled her to cast the select memory erase and remove all knowledge of the files contents from Imogen's memory. There now only remained the matter of scaring the life out of Davina so that she would never dare to think of doing something like this again.

* * *

Mildred wiped her hands on her uniform and exchanged glances with Maud. It had taken them ages to persuade Fenny and Gris to tell them about the room that they were now standing in front of. The entrance to the room was at the back of the library, and from first glance, it looked innocent enough but Fenny and Gris had told them that there were rumoured to be some powerful books within. Fenny in particular had tried to persuade the girls to find a non-magical way to solve their problem and had advised them that there were times when magic wasn't the answer. 

Mildred hadn't understood Fenny's insistence on finding a non-magical solution. They were witches, she'd reminded the older girl; using magic was the obvious thing to do. It was going to be the neatest and the simplest way of keeping everyone happy.

Fenny hadn't agreed with Mildred's thinking but after a good deal of persuasion had finally admitted that she had an idea of where they could look.

Maud had wanted to know how Fenny and Gris had heard about the books and Fenny had confessed that she had been dared to enter the room whilst a first year. No one had had any idea of what really lay behind the door, but its locked nature had been enough to tempt the pupils to find a way inside. She confessed that she remembered very little of what she'd seen; HB had discovered her after only a few minutes, and after that meeting, her memory of the events had been somewhat hazy.

Mildred closed her eyes and held out her hands; intoning the unlocking spell that Griselda had taught her. There was a moment of silence and Mildred cautiously opened one eye to see if anything untoward had happened. Everything in front of her appeared to be normal so she closed her eyes again and concentrated her thoughts on what she wanted to achieve. Her patience was rewarded a few moments later when there was the sound of the tumblers in the lock moving and a low clunking noise as the mechanism was released and the door swung open on its hinges.

Mildred opened her eyes as she heard Maud's low whistle. She exchanged a nervous glance with her friend before taking a deep breath and entering the room.

She walked on tiptoe but, despite her best efforts, her boots seemed to make an incredibly loud noise on the hard stone flags beneath her feet. She heard shushing sounds coming from Maud and turned back to face her.

"I'm trying to creep." She assured her friend.

Maud shot her a look of disbelief before attempting to follow her friend into the room. As her feet touched the ground, she heard the same loud echoing noise that Mildred's feet had made.

"That's impossible." She hissed and tried once again to creep upon the stone floor. Once again, the sound that reached her ears was akin to that of someone stomping across the room. "There must be some sort of spell in place." She determined.

"What, a sort of 'non-sneak' spell?" Mildred asked, as her feet once again thudded upon the floor. "I never knew there was such a spell."

"I bet it's one of HB's." Maud whispered.

"I can't imagine anyone else coming up with a spell like this." Mildred found that she had to agree.

"Perhaps we shouldn't be doing this?" Maud said for the umpteenth time.

"I promised Ruby that we'd try and help out." Mildred reminded her friend. "If you want to go, I won't blame you."

Maud straightened up.

"I said that I'd help you." She replied with a slightly hurt tone in her voice.

Mildred halted and turned to face her friend.

"I'm not saying that you're letting me down." She tried to reassure her. "I just don't want you getting into trouble because of me….again."

Maud smiled.

"It's ok Millie, I want to help. I'm just not certain we should be in here."

Mildred looked round at the tall dusty shelves that lined the room.

"There has to be something in here." She reasoned, "Why else, as Fenny pointed out, would the door be locked and have a sign posted up telling us to keep out?"

Maud shivered as she took in the towering bookshelves. There was something about the room that set her on edge. She swore that she could feel the magic in the air; it seemed to swirl around her and whisper to her. She wanted to take down all the books from the shelves and read the spells that were contained within. There were books on the higher shelves that looked as though they had not been read in years. Maud felt an inexplicable sadness at the thought of all the spells that had not seen the light of day for so long. She shivered again.

"Can we get out of here?" She whispered nervously in Mildred's direction.

"Hang on." Mildred hissed back as her own attention was drawn towards one particular volume. It sat on the shelf directly in front of her, surrounded on either side by other volumes, but there was something about it that captured Mildred's attention. She ran her hand down its jet-black binding before pulling it free and laying it gently down on the nearest table.

Pulling back on the heavy cover, she opened the book and breathed in the smell of old magic. She had to admit that she never failed to be amazed by the dust that always seemed to accumulate on the pages of magic books. She was certain that they attracted more than their fair share of the stuff. She hastily stifled a sneeze and concentrated instead on turning the heavy parchment pages, looking for a spell that could help her with her plan.

"Come on." Maud hissed in her ear. "I bet HB can hear those pages turning."

"I'm doing my best." Mildred reported back. If she was honest, she wasn't really sure exactly what she was looking for.

She scanned the pages as quickly as she could, her eyes taking in the fact that there appeared to be spells for almost every occasion. Her eyes widened in surprise as she caught sight of a spell that purported to be for assembling flat pack furniture without a fuss. She shook her head and flicked through more pages.

She could sense Maud hovering at her shoulder, desperate for her to hurry up.

"I'm going as fast as I can." She tried to reassure Maud and hastily turned another dozen pages of the book. She was going to add something else about her friend only serving to put her off, but she was suddenly aware of a feeling of intense cold that pervaded the room.

"What's going on?" Maud asked nervously.

Mildred shrugged her shoulders and looked down in wonderment at the parchment pages that were now revealed. Whilst the pages at the front of the book had been pale and dusty, these later pages now appeared dark and hidden behind a swirling substance of some sort.

"Maud." She hissed at her friend. "I'm not sure we should be doing this."

Maud peered over Mildred's shoulder and looked down at the pages. She let out an audible gasp.

"That's raw magic." She breathed in disbelief. "I've heard Fenny and Gris talking about it before." She exchanged a look with Mildred. "I never really believed them when they talked about it."

"You'd better believe it." Mildred told her friend as she reached out for one of the pages.

She watched in wonder, as the words on the page seemed to move and swirl as her hands neared them. "This is serious magic."

"Maybe we should leave?" Maud looked around again, expecting Miss Hardbroom to appear on the scene at any moment. She was certain that HB had a nose for magic in a similar way that bloodhounds did for human scent.

"Hang on." Mildred's sharp eye caught sight of a spell and her face spread into a grin. "I think I've found the perfect spell."

Maud glanced down at the spell that her friend was pointing at and, she had to admit, that it did seem to meet the requirements.

"Do you think we can do this?" She asked Mildred nervously. "Do you think that our magic's up to it?"

"I don't think we'll be the one's providing the magic." Mildred admitted. "I think that we only have to say the spell and the magic that surrounds the spell will do the rest."

The two friends exchanged glances. They both wanted nothing more than to help Ruby, but they had to be certain that this was something they could do without getting into trouble.

"We'll only cast it when the parents start arriving and as soon as the evening is over, I'll reverse it." Mildred promised.

Maud pulled a face, she was still a little unsure that the idea was a wise one. Magic, in her experience, had a tendency to do the unexpected when you weren't familiar with it. She looked at the earnest expression on her friend's face and finally reached her decision.

"You promise to lift the spell the moment that the parents start to go?"

Mildred nodded solemnly and Maud found herself agreeing to Mildred's plan.

* * *

There were, Amelia reflected, certain parts of her job that she hated. Somewhere at the top of the list was undoubtedly the Head Teacher's conference, which was held every year at one of the academies. She hated the way that rivalry would take over the event and each head would try to show off and brag about their achievements. She shivered as she remembered the magical fight that had broken out at the last meeting and hoped that, as it was Cackle's turn to host the next event, things would run a lot smoother next time. She wasn't sure she had the money to make the kind of repairs that Pentangles had had to make to their staff room. 

Teacher's conferences aside, there was one other thing that she really hated, and it was having to deal with internal problems with the staff.

She'd always tried to run a fair ship and she prided herself on being open-minded and fair to everyone. She had always hoped that that sense of fairness and toleration would rub off on the rest of the staff but the continual sniping down the years between Constance and Davina had made that hope slowly fade and die.

She sighed as she tried to work out the number of times she'd had to play mediator between the two teachers. In the past, their bickering had always been over something trivial and the peacemaking had been fairly easy to achieve. Amelia thought back to the flustered, scared looking Davina who had come to her door a little while earlier and realised that this time the problem might be too big to be solved with a few well-chosen words and a generous slice of cheesecake.

Davina had been in one of her major flaps and it had taken two mugs of herbal tea and a rather large fruit salad to get her calm enough to explain.

Amelia had been disappointed with Davina as she told all about the retrieval of the file from the WTC but she'd tried her best to disguise her feelings. As the implications of what Davina had done began to sink in, Amelia felt a very real sense of fear building up inside of her. If Imogen had read the file then she was certain that Constance wouldn't remain within the school. The memory of the letter from the WTC came crashing back and Amelia didn't like the picture that was being revealed. If the WTC were offering Constance the chance to head up her own school, then the business with her file might be enough to persuade her to take the job.

Traditionally, schools stayed within the family of those who had set them up, but there was a growing trend of outsiders being brought in to take over if no suitable relatives were available. Amelia knew that Constance was, without doubt, the most qualified of the current crop of deputies and the headmistress at Salamanders had been looking frail at the last Head Teacher's conference.

Amelia jumped in fear as she heard the precise knock on her door.

"Come in."

The door opened and Constance entered the room.

"You wanted to see me?"

Amelia tried a casual smile but immediately felt the way that nerves made the corners of her mouth turn down.

"Take a seat Constance. There's something I need to talk to you about."

Amelia noted the look of suspicion that passed across her deputy's face. She was thankful that Constance chose not to pursue her suspicion and instead silently took her place at the other side of the desk; her face not displaying any trace of emotion.

Amelia stared across the desk at her deputy. She dropped her head an inch and regarded her over the top of her glasses. Constance seemed calm enough, but, in her experience, there were rarely times when Constance seemed anything other than a picture of calm.

"Davina came to see me." Amelia decided to go straight to the heart of the conversation, there was a voice in her head telling her that it wasn't wise to carry out this particular conversation so close to the start Parent's evening but, as she told herself, it was a matter that needed to be broached. "She told me about the file that she had obtained from the WTC."

She watched as her deputy arched an eyebrow.

"My, she's quite the little blabbermouth isn't she?" There was the merest trace of amusement in Constance's voice.

"Constance, she has apologised and sworn to me that she never took a look inside the file. I'd like your reassurance that you aren't going to do anything to…."

"To what?" Constance's voice rose with indignation. "Are you inferring that I'd misuse my magic in some pathetic attempt at getting even?"

"Well I…"

"Miss Cackle, may I remind you that I am an experienced witch and not some wet behind the ears graduate, there is no way that I'd risk my status as a professional witch by casting some sort of petty revenge spell."

Amelia tried to phrase the next line as carefully as she could.

"Constance, I'm not wishing to cast doubt upon your professionalism, I am concerned about some of the things that your file might have revealed." She licked her lips nervously. "If Imogen has read the file, then you might be feeling a little uncomfortable at the sort of detail about you that she could now reveal."

Constance raised her eyebrows.

"Pray tell, what do you imagine is contained within my file?"

Amelia shuffled uncomfortably in her seat. During her many years of teaching she had heard about all sorts of things that Heckity Broomhead had subjected her pupils to. Being a favourite of Mistress Broomhead wasn't something that Amelia would wish on her worst enemy.

"I don't know what's in your file Constance, it's just that I remember my time at college and I wouldn't want some of the things that I did there to get to the ears of the rest of the staff."

"I can assure you Amelia that there is nothing in my file that I'd be embarrassed about."

It was Amelia's turn to raise her eyebrows, from what little information she'd gained over the years, she was certain that Constance would do anything to stop information from her file from getting out into the public domain.

"Constance I…" Amelia tried one last time to get her point across but Constance raised a hand and stopped her.

"Miss Drill returned the file to me unopened and I, in turn, returned it to its rightful place." Constance explained smoothly. "As far as I'm concerned, that's an end to the matter."

Amelia tried and failed to disguise the surprise she felt at Constance's calm acceptance of the issue.

"Aren't you worried about someone else trying to do the same in future?"

Constance tilted her head.

"I don't think so."

Subtly, Constance moved her right hand behind her back. She concentrated on where she had returned the file for a few seconds and then extended her spell-casting fingers.

In a filing cabinet, deep in the basement of the WTC there was a small puff of smoke and moments later, all that remained of the personnel file of 'Hardbroom, C' was a small pile of ash.

"Now if that was all you wanted." Constance rose to her feet and waited for Amelia to wave her away.

As the door closed behind her deputy, Amelia let out a long breath. Things had gone much smoother than she had dared to hope. She was about to reward herself with a little something from Mrs Tapioca's pantry when a nagging worry began to form in the back of her mind. What if Constance hadn't been completely honest with her? What if Imogen or Davina had in fact looked in the file and were now plotting some sort of smear campaign against Constance? The more she thought about it, the more worrying scenarios began to flood into her mind. She glanced up at the clock on the wall and wondered if there was time to get down to Cosie's for a more substantial something before Parent's evening began.


	11. Chapter 11

_I'm sorry that it's taken so long to get another part posted; life came up and got in the way. Thanks for your patience and, as always, many thanks for your reviews. Finally, parent's evening is upon us._

* * *

Miss Cackle stood at the main entrance to the school and watched as the first arrivals made their way towards her across the courtyard. When Imogen had first mentioned the idea of a parent's evening, Amelia had thought it quite the most wonderful thing, now she was beginning to seriously doubt the wisdom of gathering so many witches together. For some of the parents it would be their first proper return to the school since they had graduated. She wondered just how some of the ex-pupils would react on coming face to face with their classroom enemies of yesteryear. She closed her eyes and hoped that time had helped to dull the memories and that no-one would be coming to the evening hoping at a shot of revenge for some past crime. She recalled the number of accusations of broomstick tampering that had been laid against Ethel Hallow's mother whilst she'd been at the school. She made a mental note to herself not to stand too close to her when Cynthia Snapdragon was around; there was enough history between the two witches to fill several exercise books. 

Amelia took in a deep breath and looked around at the work that Miss Drill and her first years had done to decorate the courtyard, trying to lift her failing spirits and put a positive spin back on the evening that stretched out in front of her. She had to confess that the first years had done rather well with the short amount of time that they'd had. There were braziers marking out the route to the main entrance and the walls were adorned with paper bats and cut outs of witches on broomsticks. The whole effect was very impressive.

She held out a hand as the first set of parents reached her.

"Good evening." She smiled at them, and desperately tried to work out whose parents they were. It was hard enough remembering the names of the current pupils in the school, it was going to be another matter entirely to try and work out which parents belonged to which child and to try and remember which parents had been former pupils.

"It's me Miss Cackle, Cynthia Fennel, Cynthia Snapdragon that was. It's really good to see you again."

Amelia took the proffered hand and felt her heart sink. It seemed entirely likely that there would be fireworks of some description before the evening was over.

* * *

Miss Bat frantically smoothed out the creases that seemed to cover the front of her cloak. No matter what she tried, her number one witches cloak always seemed to be covered in untidy creases. She glanced nervously around the staff room, her eyes pausing for a few seconds on the stationary cupboard, now was not the time to start getting nervous about meeting the parents she told herself. 'They're as scared of you as you are of them' Imogen had tried to reassure her, but Davina was less than convinced. Whilst she fully believed that they would all be quaking in their boots, or shoes, or trainers, or whatever footwear they chose to wear, when facing Constance, Davina doubted very much that she'd be able to inspire much fear. 

She straightened up her fingerless gloves and checked the baton in her hair for the umpteenth time and let out a shrill shriek of surprise as the door to the staff room opened and Imogen entered.

"You look fantastic." Imogen immediately announced, knowing what a good impression Davina had been hoping to make.

"And that's … a very nice tracksuit." Davina sought desperately for something positive to say by way of reply.

Imogen smiled, trying to hide her own embarrassment. She'd forgotten that there wasn't anything formal in her wardrobe and had been forced to resort to her newest tracksuit as the smartest thing she had to wear.

"I just know Constance is going to say something about it." She frowned.

Davina smiled.

"But you've got a few things that you can say to Miss Bossy Boots now, haven't you?"

Imogen looked puzzled for a few seconds before she realised what Davina was talking about.

"I didn't look at the file." She confessed, suddenly feeling as though she had in some way betrayed Davina. "Constance arrived just after you left and I gave the file to her."

Davina frowned.

"Well she didn't pass me in the corridor." Davina fiddled with the baton in her hair. "I stood outside your door for a few minutes; I was torn between coming back in and looking at the file and running away."

Imogen shook her head as she recalled the events of the afternoon.

"But Constance appeared only moments after you left."

"I was in that corridor for at least ten minutes." Davina insisted. "And I'm sure I would have seen her." Davina leant forward. "Was she very angry?"

Imogen shook her head again.

"No. She calmly asked for the file and then left. It was as though she'd come to my room to collect a book that I'd borrowed."

Davina furrowed her brow.

"That doesn't sound much like Constance."

"I know."

"Perhaps she's planning on saying something later?"

Imogen swallowed nervously.

"Whilst the parents are here?"

"Oh I'd say it was entirely possible." Davina nodded, completely oblivious to the fear in Imogen's voice. "It would be just like Constance to wait until everyone is gathered together to say her piece… She's very good at picking her moment."

"Right." Imogen sank down onto one of the chairs. "Suddenly I don't feel so good." She confessed.

* * *

Miss Cackle felt as though her face had frozen into position; she'd been standing in the doorway and smiling and shaking hands for what felt like an eternity. Every time she thought she'd reached a point where she could let the façade drop, someone else would appear on the horizon and she didn't want to offend anyone by not giving them the same welcome she'd given everyone else. She'd lost count of the number of times that she'd smiled and nodded enthusiastically as some former pupil insisted that she must remember them. Amelia had always thought that her memory was pretty good, all things considered, but it appeared as though she had a mental block when it came to one particular year group. Try as she might, she couldn't recall one of the faces that had smiled warmly at her and told her how much they had enjoyed their time at Cackles. First thing in the morning, she promised herself that she'd go back over the records and work out why they were seemingly wiped from her memory. 

She glanced back over her shoulder as she heard a muttered apology from Beverly Blackthorn's mother…well she thought it was her mother, she wasn't too sure and she didn't want to ruffle any feathers this early in the evening by asking. Whatever her status in Beverly's life, the woman was muttering abject apologies and staring down at her feet as though she wished she were somewhere else. Constance was standing in front of her, glaring down at her.

The smile slipped from Amelia's face; this was the sort of situation that she'd been dreading. It seemed that Constance hadn't managed to grasp the concept of visitors being outside of the normal rules of the school.

Amelia decided that the best thing to do was to break up the little situation herself. She bustled over in the direction of the small group, hoping that Constance wasn't berating Beverly's mother for wearing high-heeled shoes and too much makeup.

"Is that the way that you want Beverly to behave?"

Amelia sighed as she heard Constance's voice booming out. Heads were beginning to turn and Beverly and her mother and her…. mother's friend, were all beginning to turn a shade of crimson.

"Sorry Miss Hardbroom." The three women chorused as they stared down at their feet.

Amelia cleared her throat.

"Is there something I can help with ladies?"

Constance turned her head in Amelia's direction.

"Everything is fine thank you Headmistress. Is that not so?" Her attention was immediately back on the three women and they shrank down another inch under the intensity of Constance's gaze.

"Oh yes." Beverly's mother replied, her voice quavering slightly.

"Well run along then." Constance instructed them. "And don't let me catch you using that much blusher in future."

Amelia watched as the three women apologised again and moved quietly away, well aware that every eye in the place was on them. She waited for a few moments until the buzz of conversation started up again and then tapped Constance lightly on the arm.

"A quiet word, if I may."

Amelia didn't wait for a response but simply headed for her office. She opened the door and ushered Constance inside.

When Constance had entered, she followed and leant back against the door as she shut it.

"Constance, I appreciate that Beverly Blackthorn's mother may be a little overenthusiastic when it comes to the application of make-up, but was it really necessary to cause a scene like that?"

Constance's expression was one of confusion.

"A scene? I don't recall a scene taking place out there."

"The poor woman was shaking in her shoes." Amelia protested.

Constance snorted.

"I'm not surprised. Did you see the size of the heel on them? She was tottering along like a nervous stilt walker."

Amelia took a deep breath.

"These people are here as our guests, I'm afraid you can't expect them to follow the rules that we set down for the pupils."

"But to come here and flagrantly flout the most basic of rules." Constance protested. "I really can't allow that to go past without something being said."

Amelia sighed; she had always known that it was going to be hard to persuade Constance to ease up.

"Just promise me that you won't put any of the parents in detention."

Constance glared at the very suggestion and Amelia swallowed nervously as she prepared to broach the next subject.

"Are you getting changed?"

Constance looked down at her heavy, pristine, black dress.

"Into what?"

Amelia indicated her own robes.

"I had rather thought that you would be wearing more formal attire this evening."

Constance pulled a face.

"Unless I'm very much mistaken Miss Cackle, this is not a formal occasion. I do believe the witches code is very clear on the occasions when the wearing of formal robes is approved. I do not remember seeing 'Parent's evening' on the list."

Amelia pulled a face.

"I thought it would be nice to make the effort. I believe Davina is wearing hers."

"And I don't doubt that Miss Drill is wearing her smartest tracksuit." Constance reported testily. "If you'll excuse me Amelia, I believe I have to prepare for my lab to be invaded by Mildred Hubble's parents. If they're anything like their daughter I'd better lock everything breakable away in a cupboard."

Amelia watched her deputy go and noted to herself that, all things considered, the conversation had gone rather well.

* * *

Mildred stood up on her tip-toes in an effort to get a better look down the corridor. 

"Why aren't they here yet?" She complained to Maud. "I told them that the evening started at seven."

"Perhaps they got stuck in traffic?"

Mildred dropped back down and turned to look at her friend.

"The only traffic on the road will be parents coming here. I can't imagine that it's going to be that busy."

"Have you worked out what you're going to tell them yet?" Maud decided that it was safer to try and change the subject.

"I'll think of something." Mildred tried to sound confident. In reality, she didn't have a clue how she was going to explain her absence during the evening to her parents.

Maud glanced at her watch and grimaced.

"We're going to have to go in a minute."

Mildred looked at her own watch, in the vain hope that there was something wrong with Maud's timekeeping. She sighed heavily, realising that her friend was right. If they were going to get to the room and cast the spell then they needed to hurry up.

"Fenny and Gris have agreed to keep an eye out for your parents." Maud reminded her friend. "And I'll be with them as soon as we get back. Are you sure that you don't want me to cast the spell?"

Mildred shook her head.

"Thanks for the offer Maud, but this whole thing is my idea. I really can't ask you to do any more."

"You're not asking, I'm offering." Maud reminded her but Mildred wasn't to be swayed.

"I told Ruby I'd do it, so I'll do it." She said determinedly. She glanced down the corridor once again, hoping to catch a glimpse of her parents. "Come on Maud; lets get on with it."

* * *

Elsewhere in the castle, Ruby paced impatiently back and forth across the floor of her room. 

"Come on Mildred." She whispered under her breath.

"Don't worry." Jadu tried to reassure her friend. "She'll be here."

"Will she?" There was doubt in Ruby's voice. "If she doesn't hurry up then everything's going to be ruined."

"Would it be so bad if your parent's were to meet?" Jadu asked cautiously.

Ruby stopped her pacing and turned to regard Jadu.

"You have no idea what they're like at the moment. I dread to think of the scene they would cause if they were to come face to face."

"It's really that bad?"

Ruby nodded sadly.

"It's all shouts and arguments at the moment. I used to pretend that I couldn't hear them but now it's impossible to miss."

Jadu forced a smile onto her face.

"I'm sure Mildred will be here soon."

Ruby arched an eyebrow.

"You know what Millie's like with timekeeping."

"She'll be here." Jadu told her friend with more confidence than she actually felt.

* * *

The door to the room creaked open on worn hinges and Mildred poked her head around the gap, checking to see that the coast was clear. 

"What if the book isn't here?" Maud voiced the fear that had been at the back of her mind for the past few minutes.

Mildred turned her head to face her friend.

"Why would anyone have moved it?" She queried.

Maud shrugged her shoulders.

"Perhaps HB found out that someone had been in here and took the book away."

Mildred smiled.

"You worry too much." She told her friend as she took a pace into the room. As before, her footsteps echoed around the room. She winced at the noise and made more of an effort to walk quietly. Despite her words to Maud, she found her own heart was beginning to race as she made her way to the shelf where the book had sat on their previous visit. A smile sprang to her lips as she recognised the jet-black binding of the book. She stopped in her tracks and pointed the binding out to Maud. Maud smiled and then ushered Mildred forward.

Mildred reached up and lifted the book down from the shelf. She placed it flat on the table and flicked through the pages, looking for the spell that she had found on the previous visit.

"Come on." Maud hissed impatiently at her after only a few second's pause. Maud was fast coming to the realisation that 'nerves of steel' were not something that she possessed.

"I'm going as fast as I can." Mildred reassured her friend as she failed to find the spell that she was looking for.

"Didn't you think to make a note of the page number?"

"I did." Mildred protested as she finally reached the right number. She smiled in satisfaction but her moment of victory was short lived. "This isn't the right spell."

Maud frowned and left her position by the door and coming to stand at her friend's shoulder, trying not to flinch at the noise that her feet made on the floor.

"What are you talking about?" She looked down at the book and saw the spell that Mildred was looking at. "You must have the wrong page."

"I haven't." Mildred shook her head in disbelief. "This is definitely the right page…Well it was the right page."

Mildred raised her head and exchanged a look with Maud as they both thought the same thing. Maud laughed nervously.

"That's impossible." She insisted. "There's no way that it could have moved by itself… is there?"

Mildred shuddered and flipped a few more pages, wanting to convince herself that she had made a mistake. At the back of her mind though she knew that she had been looking at the right page.

"We don't have much time." She heard Maud remind her and she flipped the pages faster, desperately searching for the spell. She shook her head as she realised that she just couldn't find it. Finally, she slammed the book shut and glared at it.

"It's not here. I can't find the spell."

"Look again." Maud urged. "We have to find it."

Mildred turned to face her friend.

"I turned every page and I can't find it."

"So what do you propose that we tell Ruby? She's got her parents coming and we have to keep them apart somehow."

Mildred buried her head in her hands.

"I don't know what we're going to do." She muttered tiredly. "I don't know what we can do."

Maud regarded her friend and let out a sigh. She knew that she couldn't blame Mildred for the problem that they now faced. She forced a smiled onto her face.

"We'll think of something." She tried to sound confident. "We'll get through the evening somehow."

Mildred's hands dropped to her side and she met her friend's gaze. She took in the optimistic expression on Maud's face and felt a smile form on her own.

"Thanks Maud." She turned on her heel and prepared to leave the room.

She had only taken a couple of paces when she heard a thud and then rustling from behind her. She exchanged a glance with Maud before turning to stare in disbelief at the book. She swallowed nervously as she watched the pages of the book turn by themselves.

After a few seconds, the pages stopped turning but both Mildred and Maud remained rooted to the spot.

"Take a look." Maud whispered to her friend.

Mildred licked her lips nervously.

"Do you think it's safe?"

Maud nodded; trying to disguise her nerves and gently prodded her friend in the back.

"I'll be right behind you."

Mildred took a deep breath and moved forward a pace, her feet making a loud noise upon the hard stone floor. She stopped and gathered her courage before she took another pace and came to stand in front of the open book.

Despite herself, she let out a gasp of surprise as she looked down at the open page in front of her.

"It's the spell." She breathed. "I'd swear that it wasn't there a moment ago."

"Quickly." Maud encouraged her. "Read the spell…before it disappears again."

Mildred took a deep breath steadied her nerves. She looked down at the swirling words on the page in front of her and began to recite the spell.

Maud stood and stared at Mildred, her mouth dropped open and she shook her head slowly.

"That's amazing." She finally breathed. "That's just amazing."

Mildred stared down at her own hands and wondered just what Maud was talking about.

"Nothing's happened." She protested. "It hasn't worked."

Maud shook her head.

"Oh trust me." She assured her friend. "Trust me, it has worked."

Maud fought against the temptation to rub her eyes as she stared at the figure in front of her. If she hadn't seen the transformation herself then she truly would believe that Ruby was standing in front of her.

She took a pace forwards and stared closely at her friend, trying to see any kind of flaw in the spell.

"Are you sure that it's worked?" Mildred was feeling a little uncomfortable with the close scrutiny that Maud was putting her under.

"It's absolutely perfect." Maud's voice was full of admiration for the spell. "I doubt that Ruby's parents will be able to tell the difference."

"That is the point of the spell." Mildred reminded her friend and Maud smiled at the comment.

"We'd best get back to Ruby, we don't want to miss the start of the evening."

"Can we stop at a mirror on the way?" Mildred wanted to see the transformation for herself. Although Maud was convinced by what she saw, Mildred was unable to notice any difference.

"Once we get you and Ruby sorted out, I promise that you can look in as many mirrors as you want."

Maud pushed Mildred in front of her and, despite herself, couldn't help but marvel at the effectiveness of the spell. Just for once, it looked as though everything was going to work out fine.


	12. Chapter 12

_Again I can only apologise for the time between posts. Things seem to keep getting in the way. On the up side,__ parents evening is finally in full swing. _

* * *

Enid stared around at the parents that were now beginning to fill up the hall; she hoped that whatever hair-brained plan Mildred and Maud had concocted was going to be good. She'd offered to distract the parents as they arrived, but unless her friends were quick to return, she wasn't really sure just how she was supposed to cope with all of them. 

She sighed heavily as she heard the approach of her father. She swore that it was impossible for him to enter a room without causing a scene. She closed her eyes; she knew exactly what would happen without looking. Her father would be at the head of the small family party. He would barge straight past Miss Cackle and into the hall and then complain in a loud voice that no one had greeted him. Her mother would be a few paces behind, and she would be dragging Thomas with her, he would be fighting every step of the way, wanting to stop and investigate every dark nook and cranny.

Enid took a deep breath and opened her eyes again as she heard her father's voice booming across the room. She watched as Miss Cackle fluttered around him, trying to get him to realise that she was there. Her father towered over her headmistress and it took a few moments for him to lower his gaze and acknowledge her. By this time, her mother had caught up and was fussing and trying to apologise for the rudeness of her husband. Thomas was already bored and desperately trying to escape the vice like grip of his mother. Enid forced a smile onto her face and headed across the hall towards them, briefly thinking that maybe Ruby had had the right idea in trying to get the evening called off.

"Mum, Dad." She greeted them as warmly as she could, trying to ignore the way that her younger brother was already pulling faces at her. She caught the look of appreciation on Miss Cackle's face and she plunged straight in with the introductions.

* * *

Imogen couldn't help but feel uneasy. She smiled and greeted each parent with as much warmth as she could muster, but out of the corner of her eye, she was constantly on the lookout for Constance. After her conversation with Davina earlier, she wasn't certain that she wanted to cross paths with Constance just yet. She rubbed at an imaginary ache at the back of her neck; what if Constance was planning on doing something to embarrass her in front of the rest of the parents? She supposed that she only had herself to blame; she'd been the one who'd been so keen to try to delve into the past and dig up a little dirt on her colleague. She tried to imagine how she'd feel if Constance knew all about the things she'd gotten up to whilst she was taking her teaching degree. She thought of the shame she'd feel if someone at the school ever got wind of the business in the third year with the goats and the tin of purple paint. 

She tried to shake the thought away as yet another set of parents stopped to shake her hand. She smiled thinly at them and muttered some pleasantry before ushering them towards the refreshment table.

As the parents moved off Imogen took a deep breath; there was only one thing to do, she'd have to confront Constance and apologise again. She wasn't sure she could take the polite, calm, reaction she'd received earlier. She vowed to herself that she wouldn't rest until Constance had blown her top properly.

* * *

Maud poked her head around the corner and checked to see that the coast was clear. They were nearly back at Ruby's room and the last thing she wanted was to be caught out now. 

Satisfied that there was no one in sight, she turned and beckoned for Mildred to follow her. She'd had to keep reminding herself all the way back that it was Mildred who was with her; if she was honest, she was already beginning to find the spell more than a little unsettling. To all intense and purposes Mildred looked exactly like Ruby; she'd stared and stared at her friend and tried to see beyond the Ruby façade but, although initially there had been a slight shimmer, the barrier now appeared to be impenetrable to the naked eye.

Maud knocked quietly on Ruby's door and moments later it opened a crack; Jadu's face appeared at the opening. She smiled as she recognised Maud and opened the door wider.

"Oh my…." Her voice dropped away as she caught sight of the figure that was standing at her friend's shoulder. "That's impossible." She breathed incredulously and turned to check that Ruby was still inside the room.

"Let us in then." Maud pushed Jadu out of the way, understanding her friend's reaction, but knowing that there wasn't time to waste.

Mildred followed Maud into the room and was somewhat surprised when Ruby let out a shriek of fear.

"That's impossible." Ruby finally found her voice and stood there, staring at Mildred in amazement. "When you said you were going to do something I never expected anything like this."

Mildred smiled back at her friend.

"You think it will work?"

Ruby nodded slowly.

"As long as you don't go and do anything too 'Mildred like'. I think my Dad would notice if I suddenly started going around with undone bootlaces."

Mildred immediately looked down at her laces and saw that, as per usual, they were trailing along the floor.

"Sorry." She apologised. "Are there any things I should expect your parents to ask me about?"

Ruby pulled a face.

"Grades. They'll want to know how I've been getting on. My Dad especially will want to know about how the potions tests have been going."

"Right….What do I tell them?"

Ruby frowned.

"Tell them how I got on."

"Oh." Mildred had become so accustomed to dodging questions about how she was doing at school; she had forgotten that others might actually be keen to tell their parents their results.

Ruby frowned as she stared at Mildred's copy of her.

"How long does the spell last for?"

Maud and Mildred exchanged nervous glances; this was one of the questions that they had been hoping that Ruby wouldn't ask. Ruby caught the look and sighed. Maud raised a hand to ease her friend's worry.

"It's a powerful spell Ruby; I'm certain that it will remain like this until we cast the reversing spell."

Ruby's eyes widened in fear.

"This spell can be undone by a reversing spell?" Her voice shot up. "So if Miss Bat spills some herbal tea on herself and tries to remove it with a reversing spell, your cover will be blown?"

Mildred tried to calm Ruby down, but her disguise only served to unsettle Ruby further. Maud took the helm and pushed Mildred behind her so that she could address Ruby properly.

"It takes more than a simple reversing spell to get rid of this." She assured Ruby, before pausing briefly and wondering if, she had in fact, pushed the right girl out of the way. She shook the thought from her mind and continued talking to the Ruby in front of her. "There's a specific spell to reverse the effects and we're going to wait until we get back to the room before we cast it."

Ruby took the news in and relaxed a little.

"I'm sorry." She finally apologised to her friends. "I guess I'm finding the prospect of deceiving my parents harder than I thought."

The two girls smiled back at her.

"It's fine." Maud told her. "I'm not sure how I'm going to explain Mildred's absence to her parents."

"Don't worry." Mildred tried to reassure her friend. "I'm sure when they've spoken to HB, they'll believe that I just want to spend time on my own."

* * *

Constance stared at the milling crowd of parents that surrounded her and tried to keep the expression of intense distaste from her face. It was one thing to have the corridors full of over-excited teenagers; it was another thing entirely to have them full of people who were desperately trying to recapture their youth. She'd lost track of the number of mothers she'd heard recounting various tales of misdeeds and escapades that they believed they'd gotten away with when they were pupils at the school. Constance had taken the precaution of reading the files on most of the parents and was well-prepared if any one of them threatened to step out of line. Although Amelia had been pretty firm on the subject, she was certain that it wasn't too late for some of them to serve a little time in detention if they took it upon themselves to try and break one more rule. 

"Er…Excuse me." Constance's head snapped round to the right as she heard a nervous voice at her shoulder. She was tempted to avoid the twittering sound but it was accompanied by a slight tap on her arm, as though the owner of the voice was used to not being heard. Biting back the urge to flinch away, Constance examined the owner of the voice, wondering just how a woman with such a nervous disposition had made it through the academy.

As her eyes moved across the couple that stood next to her, a realisation struck her. From her bearing, it was obvious that the woman wasn't a witch. The nervous, well-meaning smile on the faces of both parents was one that she was unfortunately well acquainted with.

"I'm sorry." The man took what he saw as his cue to speak. "We were looking for our daughter."

Constance raised an eyebrow.

"Really!"

The woman nudged her husband as she realised the mistake that he'd made.

"What he means to say is that we're looking for…"

Constance raised a hand and the woman fell silent.

"You don't need to tell me who you are looking for." She assured the couple. "I believe I know who your daughter is."

"Really?" The man seemed quite pleased at the comment. He turned to his wife.

"Oh yes." Constance told the man with a heavy sigh. "You can only be Mildred Hubble's parents."

"Mrs Hubble." Maud rushed up to her friend's parents. She had felt her heart leap in fear as she'd poked her head around the door and caught sight of them in conversation with HB. She'd pushed Mildred and Ruby back out into the corridor and hissed at them to wait for a few minutes. As she strode across the room, she suddenly doubted the wisdom in leaving the two identical looking girls standing together in the corridor. Well, as she told herself, there was nothing she could do about it now; her job was to try and get Mildred's parents away from HB and to stop HB from asking too many questions about Mildred's whereabouts. Maud shook her head as she spotted the way that both parents seemed to be cowering away from the tall potions teacher and she hoped that Mildred had remembered to warn them about their form tutor. She resolved to try and get them away and to the relative safety of a meeting with Miss Bat as soon as she possibly could.

"Maud." Mildred's mother Margaret smiled as she recognised her daughter's friend. "It's so nice to see a friendly face." The smile on her face dropped as she realised what she'd said. She turned and looked up at Constance, a look of apology on her face. "I wasn't meaning to imply that…."

"Come with me…" Maud tried to end the conversation before it got out of hand. "I know Mildred's dying to see you."

"Maud Moonshine."

Maud cringed as she heard the no-nonsense tones of HB. She turned to face her potions teacher.

"Miss?"

"What is the meaning of barging over here as though it were some break-time gathering in the courtyard?"

"Sorry Miss." Maud tried to sound as apologetic as possible. "It's just that Mr and Mrs Hubble have their appointment with Miss Bat and I want to make sure that they get there on time."

Constance raised an eyebrow.

"That's very industrious of you Maud, but prey tell, why isn't Mildred here to escort her parents?"

Maud looked briefly around for inspiration.

"She's just seeing to her cat….He wasn't well a little earlier and she wants to make sure that his stomach has settled."

"Hmmm." Maud felt her heart skip a beat but it appeared as though HB was going to buy her story. "With the way that she swoops around the sky on her broom as though it were some fairground roller coaster, I'm not surprised her poor cat has become a little air sick." Constance glared at Maud. "Well make sure that Mildred makes it to the meetings on time, won't you?"

"Yes Miss Hardbroom." Maud replied dutifully and ushered Mildred's bemused parents away from danger.

* * *

Ruby leant up against the wall of the corridor and watched herself pacing back and forth. 

"Do I really look like that?" She asked Mildred for the umpteenth time, still not at ease with looking at someone who apparently looked exactly like she did.

"How should I know?" Mildred reported a little stiffly, annoyed that they'd had to rush out of Ruby's room before she'd had the opportunity of looking at herself in a mirror.

"This has to work." Ruby muttered to herself. "I'm going to be in so much trouble if my parents ever find out what we're up to."

Mildred stopped her pacing and stared at her friend, immediately feeling guilty.

"Everything will be fine. I promise."

Ruby looked at her, hope plain in her eyes.

"You really think so?"

"Of course."

Mildred pulled one of the evening's programmes from her pocket and went to stand next to her friend. She pointed out the list of events.

"The way that things have shaped up, we can be pretty certain that your parents won't be in the hall at the same time."

"Pretty certain?" There was panic in Ruby's voice. "I need better assurances than 'pretty certain'!"

"Psssst!"

Mildred and Ruby turned their heads to see Jadu beckoning them forward.

"I need you to come with me." She whispered. "I've just spotted your mum approaching."

The two girls looked at eachother.

"Well?" Jadu looked from one girl to the other, waiting for one of the Ruby's to make a decision.

"You go." One Ruby said to the other.

"You sure?" The other one answered.

"I'm not sure I'm up to getting hugs from your mum."

Jadu leant forward and grabbed the arm of the girl she now knew was the real Ruby.

"Come on." She urged. "If someone comes out here and finds the two of you standing together then the whole thing is going to be blown."

* * *

Maud looked at her watch and crossed her fingers, hoping that everything was going well with Mildred and Ruby, she'd not been able to get back to them and was currently leading Mildred's parents to see Miss Bat. Thankfully, they hadn't asked after their daughter since Maud's earlier explanation for her absence. Maud was wondering just how she'd explain Mildred's absence to HB when it came to her turn to attend a meeting. She was beginning to realise that they really hadn't thought things through properly. It was looking as though their plan had more holes in it than a round of Swiss cheese. She took a deep breath and banished the worries from her mind as they reached Miss Bat's room. 

Maud knocked on the door and waited to be given permission to enter.

When no reply was forthcoming she smiled up at Mildred's parents apologetically.

"I'm sure she's in here." She reassured them. "She probably just hasn't heard us."

Mildred's father Arthur frowned.

"Isn't it important that a chanting teacher has good hearing?"

Maud smiled again and decided that it was best to try to get the experience over as soon as possible.

She pushed open the door and beamed at Miss Bat.

"Hello." Davina greeted Maud, relieved that she was starting her evening with a straightforward pupil. Imogen had tried to explain what she had to discuss with the parents but she still wasn't really sure that she knew what she was supposed to be doing.

"Come in and sit down." She pulled the baton from her hair and gestured towards the seats that had been placed in front of the desk.

"This is Mr and Mrs Hubble." Maud introduced Mildred's parents.

Davina frowned, slightly surprised at the level of formality from Maud.

"Hello." She smiled at the two nervous looking individuals. "Well isn't that funny," she remarked as a thought struck her. "You share the same last name as one of my other pupils."

Maud sighed.

"These** are **Mildred's parents." She tried to explain.

Miss Bat frowned.

But surely, they're your parents. You're the one that's with them. So does this mean that you're related to Mildred as well? Can't say that I see the resemblance."

"Maud isn't my daughter." Mildred's mother made an attempt to clear up the situation.

"Then why is she with you?" A thought struck Davina. "Are you supposed to adopt someone else's parents? Is that the point of the evening?"

"No Miss Bat," Maud assured her. "I was just bringing them to your room."

"Right….So where's Mildred then?"

Maud felt the eyes of all the adults in the room fall upon her.

"I'll go and let you get on." Maud turned to Mildred's parents, anxious to be out of the room before anyone asked anything further. "I'll be just outside if you need me."

Maud thought that Mildred's mother was about to say something and so she darted from the room as quickly as she could.

* * *

Miss Drill beamed with as much sincerity as she could muster as yet another set of parents entered the room. She'd already had to justify her presence within the school to three couples and the smile on her face was in danger of slipping. 

"Hi." She held out a hand. "You must be Drusilla's parents."

Drusilla's father looked at the hand that was offered out to him and then looked across at his daughter with a concerned expression on his face.

"Go on." She encouraged him. "It's ok."

Drusilla looked up at the confusion on her teacher's face.

"We've just come from seeing Miss Hardbroom." She said by way of explanation. Imogen nodded her head in an understanding way and motioned for the Paddock's to sit down.

* * *

Maud looked up as the door to Miss Bat's room opened and a shell-shocked looking Margaret Hubble emerged, closely followed by her husband. 

"How did it go?" Maud asked cautiously, fearing that Miss Bat had turned herself into something small and furry and disappeared into one of the many holes that honeycombed the walls.

Margaret Hubble shook her head and tried to find the words to explain what had just happened.

"Is she quite alright in the head?"

Margaret turned to glare at her husband, not quite believing that he had come straight out and asked the question.

Maud smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring way.

"She is a little eccentric."

"I'd say that was something of an understatement."

"Arthur!" Margaret chastised her husband for his candid remark.

"Well I wouldn't say that it was normal for someone to shut themselves in a cupboard and refuse to come out just because you asked them if it was possible to take a look at some of the things that Mildred had achieved."

The smile dropped slightly on Maud's face.

"Miss Bat doesn't take criticism very well." She explained.

"I wasn't aware that I was criticising her." Arthur grumbled.

"She's very sensitive." Maud tried to point out. She looked at the now closed door to the room and wondered if she should go in and attempt to cheer the chanting teacher up.

Mildred's mother glanced at her watch and grimaced.

"We're due to see Miss Drill in a few minutes."

Arthur rolled his eyes and turned to address Maud.

"Tell me…Is she likely to shut herself in a cupboard if I have the temerity to ask her a question?"

* * *

Constance raised her head and regarded the earnest looking couple sat across the desk from her. Neither of them were talking. She then recognised the look of expectation on their faces. They had been prattling on and on about something and she had simply decided that the easiest thing to do was to tune them out of her head. There was, however, a slight flaw in her plan; she now had no idea what sort of response was expected. 

She settled for sitting back in her chair and steepling her fingers. She fixed Felicity Ragwort with a stern look and watched as the young witch cringed. The cogs in Constance's brain began to turn; Felicity was not expecting a positive response to whatever the question had been. Constance cast her mind back over Felicity's performance during the term and the incident with the exploding frog came to mind.

Constance allowed a slight smile to spread across her face.

* * *

Jadu smiled at her parents and tried to reassure them that everything was ok. 

"Just talk to her." She encouraged them.

"But she's sitting in a cupboard." Her father complained.

Jadu shrugged her shoulders.

"That's not unusual for Miss Bat."

"But how are we supposed to discuss your grades?" Her mother added tetchily, wanting nothing more than to get out of the school as quickly as possible and back home in time for the late night repeat of her favourite soap.

* * *

Miss Hardbroom narrowed her eyes and tried to resist the temptation to turn Griselda Blackwood's father into a frog. She watched with barely concealed anger as he tapped his pipe on the edge of one of the mini cauldrons. 

"So you were saying…" He continued, oblivious to the effect he was having.

"Dad…" Griselda nervously tried to talk to her father. She had seen that expression on HB's face before and knew that it meant trouble.

Her father motioned for her to be quiet.

"We're here to talk about you Griselda, not to you." He smiled at Miss Hardbroom as though he'd just made an amusing joke. She in turn narrowed her eyes even further as he proceeded to refill his pipe and drop tobacco all over the herbs she had carefully left out to dry.

* * *

"It is too a proper subject!" Imogen rose to her feet and placed her hands on her hips. 

"But I don't see what running around a cold wet hockey pitch has to do with being able to cast a spell in an emergency." Fenella Feverfew's father complained.

"It aids co-ordination?" Fenella suggested hopefully, trying to calm down the argument that was brewing between her parents and Miss Drill. Miss Drill smiled at her gratefully.

"Exactly. How could Fenella cast a spell in an emergency if she couldn't co-ordinate her hands properly?"

Fenella's father looked less than convinced by the answer but he sat back in his seat and folded his arms.

"Fenella says that you teach another subject as well. What is that?"

Fenella sank lower in her chair. This meeting was about to get even worse.

* * *

Constance closed her eyes and counted to ten. 

"You are perhaps two of the most stupid, incompetent individuals that it has ever been my misfortune to meet, and believe me I've met some stupid people in my time. I've met frogs that have had more common sense; cat's that have grasped concepts that I fear would go straight over your head. If I had my way, there would be a test that the parents would have to take before their daughters were accepted here. Why don't you just go out to the fields and talk with the flowers, I feel that you probably have more in common with them on a cerebral level."

Satisfied that she had let out all the frustration that had been building up inside of her, she flicked her wrist and unfroze the 3 people who were sitting in front of her.

"I think that covers everything." She told them smartly.

The two parents looked at each other, trying to work out if they'd missed anything.

"Um…" Belinda Briarswood's father looked at HB and wanted to ask her to repeat what she'd said. He found that he couldn't quite recall any of it. He felt his wife's hand on his arm, squeezing it tightly; silently warning him to shut up. His wife's younger sister had attended Cackle's in her youth and had warned them that whatever they did, they weren't to question Miss Hardbroom. His eyes met hers and he swallowed nervously; maybe his wife had a point.

* * *

"You work hard and you achieve great results." 

Davina fidgeted in her seat and dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief.

"I'm sure that you really are appreciated within the school."

Ethel sighed as she listened to her parents trying to placate Miss Bat. She had been warned by Drusilla that Miss Bat was seeming to find the evening hard to cope with but she hadn't expected to have to sit there whilst her parents told Miss Bat how well she was doing at the school.

* * *

Maud was convinced that her nerves would give out on her by the end of the evening. She'd managed to get Mildred's parents to Miss Drill without any incident and now that she'd safely delivered them, her task was to get Mildred away from Ruby's dad and get Ruby back to his side. She scanned the hall, trying to spot the Mildred- Ruby. Finally her eyes settled on the couple she had been looking for. 

"Mildred!" Maud crept up to her friend and tugged on her arm.

"Where?" Ruby's father looked around. "I've heard all about Mildred Hubble from you Ruby. It would be nice to get the chance to finally meet her."

"What?" Mildred was momentarily confused. "You'll meet her later… I promise." She turned and glared at Maud. "I'm busy." She hissed.

"I need to talk to you for a moment." Maud insisted and tugged on Mildred's arm again.

"Excuse me for a moment Mr Cherr… Dad." Mildred amended quickly and allowed Maud to pull her away.

"What are you doing?" She demanded to know as Maud pulled her in the direction of the toilets.

"Ruby's dad is due to see HB next." Maud explained. "Even if she didn't see through the spell I'm sure she'd notice you calling your dad 'Mr Cherrytree'!" Maud told her friend impatiently. "Have you been doing that all night?"

Mildred shrugged her shoulders.

"I've been trying not to…but it's not easy."

Maud rolled her eyes and pushed Mildred through the doors into the toilets.

Ruby let out a yelp of surprise as she saw herself coming in through the doors.

"I'm never going to get used to this." She admitted, as she studied Mildred. "Do I really look like that?"

"We've been through this before." Maud told Ruby quickly. "This is you; this is how we see you. Now come on; your dad's going to be wondering where you… Mildred… Mildred as you… Well he's going to realise he's missing a daughter soon." Maud realised that she was confusing herself and instead concentrated on pushing Ruby out of the room. When she had done so, she leaned up against the door. "We're never doing anything like this again." She warned her friend, still finding it weird to look at Mildred but see Ruby's face staring back at her.

* * *

"Ahh Mr Cherrytree." Constance looked down at the hand that was proffered towards her, and tried her best to ignore it. "I have to say that I'm not unduly disappointed with Ruby's work this term." 

Ruby felt her father's gaze fall upon her and she raised her head to meet the look.

"That's a good thing dad." She translated for him. She'd explained several times that HB was unlikely to say anything too positive about anyone, but as she'd feared, her father was still expecting to hear something a little more encouraging.

"Has my daughter been working hard this term?"

Constance weighed up the question.

"She has applied herself to all the tests and tasks that I have set, but to my mind young witches rarely apply themselves fully. There are too many distractions and I fear Mr Cherrytree that the fault for some of those distractions must lie at your door."

"What?"

Ruby cringed as she heard the disbelief in her father's tone. She knew that he prided himself on giving her everything that she needed to complete her education.

"I believe you were responsible for providing her with this infernal noise maker." Constance pointed her fingers at the table and Ruby gasped as her MP3 player appeared amid a crackle of energy. She had always assumed that when HB made something vanish, it was impossible to get it back.

"Do you call this a study aid?" Ruby heard the sarcasm in HB's voice and knew that her father didn't stand a chance.

* * *

"How did it go?" Maud grabbed hold of Ruby's arm and pulled her away from her father's side. 

"I don't think he realises what hit him." Ruby whispered back. "I'm glad we didn't let my mother go in there; I think she'd be in tears by now." Ruby glanced around nervously. "Where is my mum?"

Maud pointed towards the far end of the hall.

"Mildred's with her at the moment. We've told her that Miss Bat is a bit on the dotty side and might get confused about who she's already seen."

"Right." Ruby thought about things for a moment. "Do you think that she'll see through the spell?"

Maud shrugged her shoulders.

"We've pretty much convinced your mum that Miss Bat ought to be pensioned off, so I don't think she'd be surprised if Miss Bat were to see through the spell and call Mildred by her own name." She paused as a thought struck her. "What about your mum seeing HB? Isn't she going to think it weird that you don't take her to see your potions teacher?"

Ruby shook her head.

"My Mum's scared witless of HB. They met at some function once and, according to my dad, after one confrontation mum hid in the toilets for the rest of the night."

Maud smiled.

"Well at least that's one thing we don't have to worry about." She looked at the watch on her wrist. "You know, I really think that we might just pull this off."

Ruby shook her head as nagging doubts began to resurface.

"This isn't going to work." She protested. "HB's bound to notice something's going on. Perhaps we should call the whole thing off."

"After all the trouble Mildred and I have gone to?" Maud was full of indignation. "We are going to see this through until the end."

Ruby looked at Maud with a new found respect; she'd never heard her friend be so forceful before.

"We're nearly there." Maud spoke out confidently. "If we can just keep this going for another couple of hours, the evening will be over and no-one will be any the wiser."

Ruby wanted to share in her friend's confidence but there was a voice at the back of her head telling her that, no matter what they did, the whole thing would end in tears.


	13. Chapter 13

_I hope that the long delay between the last couple of parts hasn't put you guys off. This story **will** be finished and I'll do my best to get the rest of the story into a posting state in the coming weeks. There is still a little way to go and a few things to be uncovered. It's not over yet...oh no, there are a few more things still to happen._

_

* * *

_With the first round of one-on-one meetings over, everyone gathered together in the Great Hall, ready to hear Miss Cackle formally welcome them to the school and tell them how she thought the current intake were doing. 

Ruby stood near the front of the hall with her father, holding his hand tightly and hoping that, for once, he didn't feel the need to hear the sound of his own voice. She'd asked him not to say anything and she hoped that he'd keep his promise and remain quiet. The game would be up if her mum heard his unmistakable tones filling the air.

As if sensing her fears, her dad looked down at her and smiled, squeezing her hand a little tighter.

At the back of the hall Mildred stood, somewhat nervously, next to Ruby's mother, hoping to high heaven that the subject of what she wanted to do during the holidays wasn't going to be raised again. She'd already confused Ruby's mother more than once by mixing up the names of the family pets with the names of cousins. She had thought it unlikely that Ruby had a cousin called Mr Snuffles but, in a moment of panic, had just blabbed out the first name that she could recall from what Ruby had told her of her extended family. If she made a similar blunder with holiday activities then she was sure that Ruby's mother would realise that something was up.

Maud smiled at Mildred's parents again and prayed silently that they wouldn't think to ask where their daughter had been all evening. Maud was fast running out of excuses for why Mildred wasn't on hand. If she resorted to the 'She's just popped to the loo' excuse one more time, then she was convinced that Mildred's mother was going to believe that her daughter had some medical condition that needed immediate attention. She focussed instead on Miss Cackle and wished that the evening would come to a quick and painless conclusion.

Miss Cackle stood on the stage and looked out at the mass of faces that were looking up at her. It was more than a little odd to be addressing parents as well as pupils, certainly as some of the parent's faces were looking more and more familiar.

"Thank you, all of you for making the effort to attend this evening." She began. "It's so good to see so many of you here." She smiled. "It's wonderful to see so many familiar faces from years gone by and heart-warming to know that you decided to send your own daughters to Cackles."

She turned and indicated her colleagues who sat with her at the front of the hall.

"This is something of a new experience for us all and I have to say that we're enjoying the opportunity to meet so many sets of parents." She took in the tightly folded arms and glares on the faces of Davina, Imogen and Constance and cleared her throat. "As I was saying, it's been wonderful to have you all here. We thought that perhaps it would be nice to offer you the chance to ask us a few questions." She smiled, in what she hoped was an encouraging manner, at the assembled mass of parents. "So is there anything that you'd like to ask?" Miss Cackle beamed, unaware that she was about to unleash a monster.

Enid groaned heavily as her father rose to his feet the moment that Miss Cackle had finished her question. If there was one thing that her father could be relied upon to do, it was ask a question that no one wanted to hear the answer to. She closed her eyes and wished for the evening to be over.

"There is one thing I'd like to know." Henry Nightshade began, not seeing the way that the rest of his family tried to sink into their chairs.

"Please ask away." Miss Cackle encouraged.

"Which subject does this school pride above all others?"

The wide smile on Miss Cackle's face faltered slightly.

"I'm not sure that I can answer that one." She began slowly. "We pride ourselves on being proficient in all areas of witchcraft within Cackles."

Henry Nightshade was about to protest that that wasn't an answer but Davina Bat beat him to it. She rose to her feet and inclined her head in Miss Cackle's direction.

"Now I'm not one to blow my own trumpet, as it were, but I think I can confidently say that Cackles produces some of the finest young witch voices in the country…" She looked round at the faces that were looking up at her and felt as though she had to continue. "In fact I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't have the best chanters in the world."

"Chanting!" Constance Hardbroom's voice cut the atmosphere in the room. It positively dripped with disbelief. She turned her head sharply to glare at her colleague. "Are you seriously suggesting that your 'soft' subject is something that we should all be proud of?" She sniffed at the thought before continuing. "Have you actually listened to the abject caterwauling that has issued forth from your classroom in recent weeks? I am sure Mr Nightshade will be relieved to hear that Cackle's places more importance in the real art in the craft and that potion-making is undoubtedly our strongest subject."

"Ladies please." Amelia could sense the tension that was building and tried to intercede before things escalated out of her control.

"But Miss Cackle." Constance wanted to ensure that Amelia understood the seriousness of the situation. "You can't possibly stand there and seriously suggest that chanting is more important to the development of a young witch than potion-making? If, heaven forbid, our girls were to find themselves face to face with… let's say for example. an angry lion, then their potion-making and spell casting abilities would stand them in better stead than chanting."

"An angry lion." Miss Bat scoffed at the idea, rising to her feet "When are pupils from this school likely to come face to face with an angry lion?"

"It was an example picked at random." Miss Hardbroom retorted hotly, as she too left her seat. "If you can, then I'd like you to name one situation in which chanting would stand a witch in better stead than a working knowledge of spells and potion-making."

Davina moved until she stood toe to toe with Constance and tried to intimidate her colleague. The effect was lessened somewhat by the fact that, without craning her neck, she could only glare at Constance's chin.

"I won't have you belittling my subject." She blustered, drawing her conductor's baton from her hair and prodding Constance in the shoulder with it.

Constance swatted at Davina as though she was nothing more than a minor irritation.

"Really Davina, do you think that this floor show is entirely necessary?"

"You started it." Davina remarked pointedly, suddenly becoming aware that she was in front of a hall full of parents.

Miss Cackle coughed politely and motioned for the two teachers to sit down. Amelia noted that Constance sat down without a single outward sign of embarrassment. She simply retook her seat and folded her arms, glaring out at anyone who had the temerity to look in her direction. Davina on the other hand was visibly flustered and twitched and fidgeted as she retook her own seat.

Miss Cackle looked from Constance to Davina and then caught the depressed look on Imogen's face and felt her heart sink. She wished that there was some way out of this situation, but she knew from the looks on their faces, that none of them were going to be prepared to let it drop. She smiled thinly at Henry Nightshade.

"Whilst it's an interesting question Mr Nightshade, I don't think it's something I can answer without a great deal of thought."

"Nonsense." Henry responded; ignoring the tug on the arm he received from Enid. "You must prize one subject above the others." He looked round at the other parents, looking for support. "You must have one area in which you think the school excels?"

The smile on Miss Cackle's face dropped a notch as she saw a few of the other parents starting to nod in agreement.

"Look I can make it simple for you." Henry Nightshade boomed. "We can discount sports; we all know that that's just a bit of pointless running around to keep the girls out of trouble; not a real subject if you ask me."

Amelia shot a look in Constance's direction, hoping that the potions teacher wasn't going to add some acid comment. She could already feel the anger radiating from Imogen Drill over the way that her subject was disregarded out of hand, and one word from Constance was likely to send the young teacher over the edge. There was a barely perceptible twitch at the corners of Constance's mouth, but for Constance that amounted to a full-blown smile. Amelia narrowed her eyes as Constance brushed at some invisible speck of dust on her dress; it was obvious that she found the whole situation highly amusing. Amelia wondered just how amusing she'd find it, if Henry Nightshade were to be as disparaging towards her subject. She held her breath for a second; waiting for the killer line to be spoken but Constance remained uncharacteristically silent. Offering up a prayer of thanks to whoever happened to be listening, she returned her attention to Henry Nightshade.

"Well Mr Nightshade, we pride ourselves at Cackles in our all round achievements. We don't afford preference to any one subject."

"But there must be one where the highest results are gained?" He persisted and Amelia noted that more parents were starting to nod in agreement with him. "You must have a favourite."

Amelia smiled nervously, trying to think of a way to dodge the question.

"I don't really think that it's possible to compare some subjects. What matters is that everyone puts the same amount of effort into every subject, whatever the degree of their natural ability."

"Come come, Miss Cackle." Henry Nightshade wasn't about to let the matter drop. "Miss Bat and Miss Hardbroom have made it clear how highly they value their subjects; you must have a view on the matter?"

"Well I…" Amelia felt, rather than saw, the piercing looks that were being aimed at her by the rest of the staff. Constance's gaze was drilling its way into her mind, waiting expectantly for her to say that Potion teaching was the most valued subject. Miss Bat's look was darting and nervous but was there all the same. Imogen's was a little half-hearted, a little desperate; a little like a small child desperately seeking approval. Amelia closed her eyes and wished that she was somewhere else entirely, somewhere perhaps that contained more cheesecake than it was humanly possible for a person to consume.

"Miss Cackle?" Henry Nightshade's voice broke into the tense silence.

"I really don't think that I can answer that question at the present time."

"Perhaps a little demonstration of each subject would help?"

Constance's head snapped round as she heard Imogen's voice. Her eyes were mere narrow slits and the expression on her face was one of barely contained fury. Imogen pretended that she couldn't see the look and carried on, in reality she felt as though Constance's eyes were drilling their way into her very soul.

"Perhaps if the girls were to show you some of the things that they could do…"

"My subject is not a matter for public entertainment." Constance growled, cutting across Imogen's suggestion.

"I think that's a marvellous idea." Henry Nightshade's voice boomed.

"I'm sorry Mr Nightshade." Constance rose to her feet, her voice cutting through the murmuring in the hall. "I'm not prepared to see the subject I have dedicated my life to, turned into some kind of street corner entertainment. If you want to see what my subject is capable of, I suggest you see me after the evening is over!"

A hushed silence fell upon the hall and there was nervous fidgeting from the pupils and ex-pupils who knew just what HB was capable of doing.

Miss Cackle laughed nervously and smiled a watery smile at the crowd.

"Perhaps you would like to hear some of the things that the 1st years have accomplished this term?" She motioned Miss Bat to move to the front of the group, desperate to shift the uncomfortable atmosphere that had settled upon the hall.

Miss Bat giggled and poked her tongue out at Constance before bustling her way to the edge of the stage.

She tapped her baton on the music stand in front of her and the choir that had been sitting patiently at the side of the hall rose to its feet.

Amelia turned her head to have a quiet word with her deputy, but Constance was no-where to be seen. As the first strains of something that sounded something like an avant-garde version of 'Eye of Toad' began to fill the hall, Amelia took the opportunity to sneak away.

* * *

Amelia pushed open the door to the staff room and, as she had suspected, Constance was standing by the window, staring out into the night sky. 

"I thought that we'd agreed that there was to be no disappearing into the ether this evening." Amelia chided her colleague.

"Well." Was Constance's only reply, but the one word was enough for Amelia to realise the kind of mood that her colleague was in.

Amelia took a deep breath.

"You have to come back out Constance. There are still things that need to be done."

Amelia watched as Constance's shoulders stiffened.

"I am not having my subject turned into some kind of cheap magic show."

"I'm sure Imogen didn't mean…"

Constance spun round.

"Oh she meant it, she knows how I feel about ostentatious public displays. She knew exactly what she was saying."

Amelia tilted her head to one side.

"Is there something else Constance? Something you're not telling me?"

Constance sighed.

"Why must you try and find intrigue where there isn't any Amelia?"

Amelia shook her head; there was something that Constance wasn't telling her; something she was keeping to herself.

"Has this got something to do with that business with your file from the WTC?"

Constance snorted.

"I thought that we'd established that that little business was at an end."

"Well what is it then?" Amelia was reluctant to let the subject go.

Constance remained silent and Amelia realised that it was going to be impossible to get any answers at the present time. "I need you to come back into the hall." Amelia decided that the best thing to do was appeal to her deputy's sense of duty. "The parents are all here now and I can't manage the rest of the evening with just Miss Drill and Miss Bat for support." She smiled in what she hoped was a winning way.

Constance looked at the imploring look on Amelia's face and sighed heavily. There were times when Amelia stretched her loyalty to the school to breaking point.

"Very well Headmistress." She announced coldly. "I will come back into the hall but I will not consent to taking part in any sideshows or public displays for the 'entertainment' of other people."

"Very well Constance." Amelia tried to keep the smile from forming on her lips. "The pupils are free to demonstrate a few things to their parents but I won't ask you to be present." She glanced at the clock on the wall; suddenly aware of the amount of time they'd been away from the hall. "I rather think we'd better hurry back, there's only so much of the 1st year's singing that any parent, no matter how loving, can stand."

* * *

Imogen closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger; the cacophony from the first years was beginning to give her a headache, and she realised that she would actually welcome the return of Constance to the room. Imogen shivered as the thought of Constance caused a very clear image to flash through her mind. She blinked and tried to work out exactly what it was she had just seen. She shook her head as the image refused to return. She was about to pass it off as nothing when another unexplained image flashed up before her eyes. The image was only there for a fleeting second before it vanished, but Imogen was certain that the image represented something she had been doing that day. She closed her eyes and willed the image to return, trying to look into her mind and recreate what she had just seen. 

Her mind however, refused to comply and she realised that she'd have to open her eyes soon or some parent might mistakenly think that she had nodded off.

She forced a neutral expression onto her face and opened her eyes again to see Davina waving her arms around as though she was possessed. Allegedly she was conducting the choir into, what Imogen sincerely hoped was, the final chorus of Eye of Toad.

Imogen's hands twitched in her lap and she was left with the unmistakeable feeling of aged card on her fingers. She clenched her fists and tried not to panic. Something very strange was going on, that was certain. Imogen tried to stop the panic that was rising within her; someone or something seemed to be manipulating her memories.

She couldn't put her finger on exactly what was going on but she was certain that it had something to do with Constance's file. Davina had insisted earlier that she had not passed Constance in the corridor, but surely, that was impossible; the two of them would have to have passed each other if the time between Davina leaving and Constance arriving were as she remembered. Imogen's heart leapt; what if she had in fact looked at the file and Constance had then done something about it, done something to make her forget. The more she thought about it, the more she thought that that was the only logical answer. But would Constance really do something like that? Imogen was fairly certain that there was bound to be something in the Witches Code that forbade that kind of action, and Imogen couldn't really imagine Constance ever doing anything to break the Witches Code.

She felt her hands twitch again and at the same time, a clear image of Constance's file sprang up before her eyes. It was gone in a heartbeat but this time Imogen knew what she had seen. She narrowed her eyes; she was more determined than ever to have a few words with the potions teacher, the moment that she reappeared on the scene.

* * *

Constance entered the hall and turned her head, glancing around the room. Despite the incessant chatter and the almost deafening racket that was issuing forth from Miss Bat's well-intentioned musical group, Constance could sense that something was not right. She let her eyes glance over the top of all the heads in the room and tried to zero in on the area where the disruption was centred. She sighed and pursed her lips as her first attempt failed. 

She had the uncomfortable feeling that she was being watched but couldn't work out where the eyes were located. She scanned the room again but met with no answer. The feeling, however, would not go away and finally she lowered her gaze and her eyes locked with those of a small boy. His lips were liberally marked with chocolate and a glance at his hands revealed that they too had received a fair coating in the sticky brown substance. He was staring up at her with wide eyes.

"What is it?" She snapped at the small boy.

The boy's eyes widened slightly and he took a step back.

Constance clicked her tongue against her teeth impatiently. This always seemed to happen whenever she came into contact with children of a certain age. She could never understand their seeming fascination with her.

Thomas Nightshade's eyes lost their wide-eyed expression as he finally came to the conclusion that maybe she wasn't as frightening as she had first appeared. He took a pace towards her, raising his right hand to grab hold of her dress for stability. Constance narrowed her eyes and, after furtive glances left and right, raised her right hand and motioned in his direction. Immediately the small boy's right hand raised itself and his thumb wedged itself firmly in his mouth. Thomas looked more than a little surprised and tried to move the hand. He was unable to do so. Constance didn't wait to see the boy's brow wrinkle in confusion; she simply swept out of the way.

She'd reached the opposite side of the room by the time the commotion broke out.


	14. Chapter 14

_Sorry that this part is so short; it's just the best place to put the break between parts. I'll try and do battle with the next part soon. Thanks for your patience… and as always, thanks for the reviews._

* * *

Enid turned her head away from the discussion her parents were having with Mr Blossom. Unbeknownst to her, both her parents had taken a fancy to gardening in the past few months and were now taking the opportunity of discovering as much as they could about the propagation of tomatoes. Enid had to confess that she was bored rigid. Before the evening had begun, she had feared that her parents would embarrass her; she hadn't envisaged that they would bore her to death.

She let out a heavy sigh, making no attempt to disguise her mood. She was fully expecting some sort of rebuke from her parents but they were so engrossed in their discussion of the relative merits of Baby Bio that they failed to notice her. She gave her full attention to the small, but vocal, crowd that was starting to form on the far side of the room.

Amid the chatter she made out an unmistakable wail; it was a sound that had blighted her life ever since the day her mother had returned from hospital with her baby brother.

She broke away from her parent's side and made her way swiftly to the centre of the group.

Her mouth dropped open as she took in the sight before her. Her brother was at the centre of a small circle of people. His right thumb was placed firmly in his mouth, tears were running down his face and Fenny and Gris appeared to be trying to pull the offending thumb out.

"What on earth are you doing to my brother?" Enid immediately went on the offensive. She tried to push the two older girls away from her brother.

Fenny and Gris let go without a fight and Enid swiftly pushed her brother behind her.

"I never had the two of you figured for bullies." She snapped angrily.

"We're not." Fenny protested. "We were trying to help him."

"By yanking his hand out of his mouth!"

"His hand is stuck."

"In his mouth?" Enid's tone was full of disbelief. "Are you seriously expecting me to believe that…" She turned her head as her brother emerged from behind her; he was tugging at his right hand with his left and looked very very confused. "He's got his hand stuck in his mouth!"

* * *

Constance was crossing the hall to avoid having to listen to another mind-numbingly dull question from Celia Ragwort's mother, when she stopped suddenly in her tracks as she caught sight of something on the periphery of her vision; it was something that sent a shiver right through her. She closed her eyes and then opened them again, knowing that what she had seen had must have been her mind playing tricks on her; there was no way that **she **could be here. She scanned the room again and breathed a sigh of relief. There was of course no way that Heckity Broomhead could be in the hall; it had been foolish of her to even entertain the notion. She stopped again; just what had made her think that she had seen her former tutor? It wasn't as though it was someone she wanted or expected to see. Perhaps it was as a result of catching Imogen with her file earlier; perhaps that was what had brought thoughts of Mistress Broomhead to her mind; ghosts of the past raising their heads.

Constance shook her head and tried to forget the matter. She had only taken two more paces across the room, when the same feeling came over her again. It was stronger this time; she imagined that she could sense her ex-tutor's presence in the room. The feeling was hard to shake and Constance was at something of a loss to explain what was going on.

She looked around the room and tried to work out if it was perhaps one of the students attempting to play some kind of a trick on her; not that she thought any of them were **that **stupid, or really relished the thought of spending the rest of their time at Cackles in detention.

She was in the middle of glaring at the room as a whole when Amelia spotted her and made her way to her side.

"I take it that the stuck finger is your work?"

"What?" Constance was only half-listening to Amelia. There was magic in the air, she was certain of it. What she wasn't certain of was what the nature of the magic was.

"Are you or are you not responsible for little Thomas Nightshade and the finger that seems to be magically stuck in his mouth?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Constance finally gave her full attention to Amelia. It was becoming apparent that until she'd gotten rid of Amelia, she wouldn't be able to get back to the matter in hand. "I have no idea who Thomas Nightshade is."

"Small boy; can't be more than seven."

Constance was about to dismiss the details when she suddenly remembered the child from earlier.

"Were there any other identifiable marks?"

"He's a small boy not someone's missing pet." Amelia scolded before adding. "He does seem to have a remarkable amount of chocolate spread around his mouth.

An expression of guilt flitted across Constance's face as she realised that she'd never removed the spell from the boy. She subtly waved her hand in the general direction of the boy and muttered under her breath before meeting Amelia's gaze.

"I have no idea of what you are talking about." She insisted.

Amelia narrowed her eyes and scrutinised her colleague for a moment. She wasn't entirely convinced that Constance was telling the truth but neither was she foolish enough to suggest such a thing openly. She 'hhmmed' quietly and turned her attention back towards the small group around the young boy. She heard a yell of surprise from one of the girls and then a wailing cry from a small boy.

She returned her focus to Constance and raised a questioning eyebrow. Constance's expression didn't alter in the slightest. Amelia 'hmmed' again and bustled over to where the small group was still gathered.

"What are you doing down there?" Amelia enquired as she spotted Enid sitting on the floor.

"Getting up Miss." Enid tried to explain as she struggled to regain her dignity.

"She was trying to pull her brother's thumb out of his mouth." Fenny stepped in to explain the situation. "She was tugging at his hand when it suddenly came unstuck."

"If I was asked," Griselda added. "I'd say that someone had put a spell on him."

Amelia glanced at Griselda over the top of her glasses.

"That's a rather heavy-handed accusation to make. I hope you've got some evidence to back it up."

Griselda noted the tone in her headmistresses' voice and tried to look suitably apologetic.

"It's just a little hard to explain why his thumb was stuck in that way." She voiced her thoughts and received another glare from Miss Cackle.

"Well is he alright now?" Amelia decided that it was safer to try and change the subject.

Enid looked around to try and spot where her brother had run off to.

"I expect he's fine." She smiled in what she hoped was a winning manner. "And when my dad asks, can you let him know that it wasn't my fault?"

"Of course." Amelia reassured Enid as she watched the young girl brush the dust off her uniform and set off in search of her brother.

"There's something strange going on around here." Fenella whispered to her friend as she watched Miss Cackle head off in the other direction.

"Miss Cackle seems keen to keep a lid on it." Griselda agreed. "I wonder if HB doesn't have a hand in what's going on?"

Fenny raised an eyebrow.

"Open dissention in the ranks, that's not like HB."

"True, but there is definitely something strange going on around here and we both know how HB feels about this evening."

The two broke off their conversation, as there was a shrill scream from across the hall.

"Get them away from me, get them away from me." Jadu's mother was flapping at the coats that were hung on pegs in the corner of the hall as though they were attacking her.

Jadu looked mortified and was desperately trying to pull her mother away and out of the hall. Ethel and Drusilla were standing only a few feet away and were laughing hard at the sight before them.

"What's wrong with her?" Ethel managed to get the words out through her laughter. "Is she always like this?"

"It's only a few coats." Dru pointed out. "What does she think they're going to do….eat her?"

"Shut up." Jadu snapped at the pair, too distracted with trying to drag her mother away, to put up much of a fight.

"What's going on?" Fenny was first to the scene and immediately confronted the two giggling girls.

"It's not our fault that Jadu's mother has a morbid fear of coats." Ethel sneered.

Fenny turned away and looked to where Jadu and her father were now trying to calm her mother down.

"What happened?" She asked as gently as she could.

Jadu shook her head and prised herself away from her parent's side.

"I don't know what happened." She admitted shakily. "She was standing there perfectly happy one minute and then shaking in fear the next."

"What did she think they were?"

Jadu shrugged her shoulders.

"The only things I know she's scared of are ghosts."

"But they're not ghosts." Griselda had moved to the coats and now ran her hands along the row. "They're just coats."

"What's going on over here?"

The girl's all groaned as they recognised the tones of Miss Hardbroom. Dutifully they all stood back and waited until she appeared in their midst.

"My mother was just spooked by something." Jadu tried to explain.

Constance pursed her lips.

"Spooked! What precisely do you mean by 'spooked'?"

"She saw something that scared her Miss." Jadu pointed to the coats but wasn't really sure how to explain further. She wasn't sure that she understood herself. She looked up at HB and waited for the expected scathing comments. She was somewhat surprised to see the thoughtful expression on her teacher's face.

"I take it that the 'something' in question wasn't real?"

Jadu nodded.

"I don't know what she thought she saw but…" Jadu was unable to complete her sentence as her mother entered into the conversation.

"I saw ghosts." She announced with a shaky voice. "They were there in front of me, all white and shimmering."

Constance fixed Jadu's mother with a firm gaze.

"But they're not there now?"

Jadu's mother shook her head nervously.

"But they were there. I know they were. I saw them."

"Hmm." Was the only response Constance gave.

Jadu's eyes widened as she watched the way that her mother seemed to shrink under HB's gaze. She'd always assumed that HB's 'look' only worked on them. Now she watched her mother as she squirmed under the familiar piercing gaze.

"You are certain of what you saw?" It was an accusation rather than a question and Jadu watched as her mother seemed to shrink down another inch.

"There were ghosts." The voice was quieter this time and less certain.

"Hmmm." Came the response from HB again.

"What's going on Miss?" Fenny finally found the courage to enter into the conversation.

"Nothing that need concern you, Fenella Feverfew." Constance snapped and turned on her heel. "Let's here no more talk of ghosts."

Fenella watched as her potion's teacher stalked away and the small gathering began to break up.

"I tell you Gris. There's something funny going on here and I'll bet you any money that HB knows it too."

* * *

Mildred racked her brains and tried to remember whether she was supposed to be meeting Ruby's father at the table by the fruit punch or by the doors that led out to the gym. She closed her eyes and tried to visualise the scene. She could remember Ruby coming into the potion lab and placing both her hands on her arms and telling her that the next piece of information was important. She screwed her eyes tighter as she tried and failed to recall any more detail.

"Stupid brain." She reprimanded herself. She paced up and down between the long wooden benches and tried to remember who she had seen last. She had been with Ruby's father for the tour of the school gym. She had reasoned that Miss Drill would be unlikely to be able to see through the spell; the games teacher had once spent an entire lesson trying to teach two potted plants how to play badminton, not realising that Enid had placed a shapeshift potion on them.

She looked around nervously; standing in the potions lab wasn't exactly the safest place to be. It was possible that HB could be back through the doors at any moment… Mildred looked nervously around; there was nothing to say that she had to use the doors to enter the room. She closed her eyes and tried to slow her thumping heart. The hardest part of the evening was over, she reminded herself; she just had to hold out for another hour or so.

* * *

Imogen had been waiting for the right moment to approach Constance. She'd watched the way that the potions teacher had managed to avoid coming into contact with the majority of parents; she'd watched and marvelled at the way that she seemed to weave through the crowd, never seeming to notice all the hands that were raised in her direction or the voices that called her name as she passed.

Satisfied that she had no obvious route of escape, Imogen threaded her way through the crowd to Constance's side.

"I want to have a quiet word with you." She told the tall potions teacher firmly.

Constance glared down at her with undisguised annoyance.

"I was under the impression that you'd said plenty earlier."

"It's earlier that I want to talk about."

Constance pursed her lips.

"I didn't say anything to Miss Cackle about you, if that's what you're worried about."

Imogen was momentarily lost for words; it hadn't crossed her mind that Miss Cackle had found out about the file and her role in its appearance within the school.

"What?" Was the only word she managed to utter.

"Davina had an attack of conscience and confessed all to Miss Cackle." The note of distain in Constance's voice told Imogen everything she needed to know about the way that Constance felt about the situation. "She apparently didn't mention you, but Miss Cackle seemed to instinctively know that you were involved."

Imogen wanted to ask a few questions of her own but she was determined that Constance wasn't going to distract her from her appointed task.

"Did you do something to me this afternoon?" She kept her voice as level as possible.

Constance raised an eyebrow, amusement plain on her face.

"What on earth are you trying to suggest?"

Imogen was flustered, despite her intention to remain calm and unflappable; there was something in Constance's voice that made her feel as though her question had been somewhat ridiculous. She swallowed nervously, determined to plough on, whatever the outcome.

"Every now and again I see flashes of myself sitting in my room. The file, **your file**, is on my lap." She raised her eyes and met Constance's piercing gaze. "I **know **the folder is open."

Constance took a deep breath.

"Just what are you implying?"

"I think you know full well what I'm asking." Imogen forced herself to remain calm. "Did I or did I not open that file?"

"How clear are these flashes that you are seeing?" Constance's tone changed completely and Imogen was briefly thrown by the urgency in her colleague's voice. She forced herself to keep on track.

"Don't try and dance around the subject Constance. Did you or did you not…"

"They feel real, don't they?" Constance's tone was urgent. "You feel as though you were there?"

"What?" Imogen was well and truly lost in the conversation.

She watched as Constance turned her head this way and that, as though searching the air for something.

"What is it?" She found herself asking.

Constance shook her head.

"There's something in the air. I know there is. I just can't put my finger on what it is." Constance walked away from the corner and headed out into the middle of the hall; this time there was no pretence in the blanking of the parents who were in her path. There was something strange in the air and Constance was determined to get to the bottom of it, everything else in the room melted away and her attention was fully focused on the task in hand.

Imogen watched open-mouthed as Constance swept into the centre of the room. Her colleague's tone had sent a shiver down her spine. She looked around her, as though expecting to see something mysterious in the air. After a few moments a thought struck her. Constance had dodged answering the question once again.


	15. Chapter 15

_I hope this is all still making sense, as it has taken me some time to get to this part of the story. Hang on in there though, as things are about to hot up._

_

* * *

_Mildred smiled up at Ruby's dad and tried to think of what to say. It wasn't the first time in the evening that she'd found herself completely tongue-tied. One of the many things that she'd not considered when she'd first come up with her plan to pass herself off as Ruby, was the fact that Ruby's parents would both want to know what she'd been up to during the term. She'd tried to make up suitable stories but she was fairly certain that both parents sensed that something wasn't right. She really wasn't sure exactly what Ruby told her parents about her time at school. She didn't want to go over the top with stories about the way that they blew up the school cauldrons with frightening regularity, but equally she didn't want Ruby's parents to think that their daughter wasn't having a good time. 

She smiled up at the tall man in front of her and tried to think of an excuse to get away for a few minutes.

"I've just got to go and check on Tabby."

A frown appeared on the face of Ruby's father.

"Tabby?…Isn't that one of your friend's cats?"

Mildred cursed beneath her breath.

"Er….yes. I promised I'd check in on him for her."

"Can't she look after her own cat?"

"I'll be back in a minute." Mildred called back over her shoulder as she darted from the room, not daring to try to explain anymore.

Mr Cherrytree watched her go, not certain that he understood his daughter anymore.

* * *

Constance held her breath and counted to ten. Someone's mother, she wasn't sure exactly who it was and she really wasn't sure that she cared one way or the other, was beginning to seriously annoy her. She remembered the promise that she'd made to Miss Cackle and sighed inwardly. It would only take the merest click of her fingers to rid herself of the inane prattling of the woman at her shoulder but she had promised the Headmistress that she wouldn't use magic on any of the parents, no matter what the provocation. She forced herself to smile and nod, pretending that she'd heard every word that had been uttered and turned her attention out towards the hall; hoping that the woman would get the hint and go away.

She caught sight of Ruby Cherrytree making her way across the hall and followed her pupil's progress. She frowned; there was something about the sight before her that wasn't quite right. She shook her head; trying to convince herself that she was overreacting, but there was a nagging doubt in her mind that she just couldn't dispel. There had been that business with Miss Drill, and Jadu Wali's mother had seen things that weren't there. She herself had imagined the presence of Mistress Broomhead in the room. Something was out of sorts but she couldn't pin down exactly what it was. She turned her attention back to Ruby, trying to tune out the incessant whine of the woman next to her. She wasn't sure what it was that had made her turn her focus to the 2nd year pupil but now that she had, she began to get a hint of what was going on. When she looked closely at Ruby, she could see a small aura that surrounded her, a gentle multi-coloured miasma that flowed and bobbed around as she moved. There was only one thing that could cause something like that. There was an enchantment over the girl and not a simple one either. It took a great deal of magic to create an illusion that powerful, that complete. Constance was certain that it was an illusion; the more she stared, the more she felt as though her senses were being manipulated. Whatever her eyes were really registering was being replaced with the image that the spell decided she should see.

Constance stared more closely at the way that Ruby was walking; she recognised the gait immediately. There was only one pupil who dragged her heels like that. She closed her eyes and concentrated on clearing her mind; if she was going to see through the illusion then she had to wipe her mind of every distraction.

Breathing out slowly, she opened her eyes again and she saw the unmistakable long plaits and trailing bootlaces of Mildred Hubble as she strolled across the room. They were only visible for a few seconds before they were lost within the Ruby façade that quickly materialised before her.

Constance opened her mouth to call out but then quickly reconsidered her actions. It was highly probable that she was the only one who was able to see through the illusion and she didn't really fancy trying to explain to the others why she appeared to insist on calling Ruby 'Mildred'. She glanced around to make sure that no one was watching and folded her arms, preparing to disappear. She was on the point of taking herself out of the room when she recalled another of the many promises she'd made to Miss Cackle earlier in the day. Amelia had insisted that she remain visible at all times when in sight of the parents and that entering and leaving a room should only be carried out via the traditional method of using a door. Constance had sighed heavily at this point but Amelia had been insistent. 'What if one of the parent's has a heart condition?' she had argued. 'What if one of them drops dead because you scared the life out of them? Can you imagine the insurance premiums?' Constance had rolled her eyes at the argument but nonetheless had acquiesced to the demands and promised to follow the rules.

She looked around before taking a step back into the shadows. Satisfied that she was out of the direct sight of the parents she folded her arms and concentrated on where she wanted to be.

Thomas Nightshade's eyes widened in fear and surprise as he watched the tall teacher disappear into the ether. He rubbed his eyes and stared intently at the spot where she had been standing. There was no sign of her and no sign that she had ever been there. He shook his head slowly and moved closer to his mother. There was something very odd about the place; something that he didn't like. He couldn't wait for the evening to be over so that he could go home.

* * *

Mildred hurried down the corridor, pushed open the door to the girl's toilets and cautiously looked around.

"Ruby?" She hissed urgently. "Ruby are you here?"

Mildred watched as the door to one of the cubicles opened and Ruby's head poked out.

"What are you doing in here?" She demanded to know. "I thought you were supposed to be showing my Father around."

Mildred pulled a face.

"He keeps me asking questions and I don't know what to tell him. I need to know, do I like the idea of a set of physics books for Christmas?"

Ruby let out an impatient sigh

"Of course you do." She waved Mildred away. "Now get back out there before my dad realises that I'm missing."

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"

Mildred's heart sank into her boots; she exchanged glances with Ruby and saw a matching expression on the face of her friend. Slowly the pair of them turned to face in the direction that the voice had come from.

Mildred looked up past the tightly folded arms of her potions teacher and saw the hard dark eyes that glared at her with barely concealed fury.

"Just what do you think you are doing?"

Mildred desperately searched around for some explanation but she was saved from answering by the opening of the door behind her

"Come on Millie, I think Hardbroom's going to notice if you're not back in the hall soon."

"Indeed she is Maud Moonshine." Constance remarked sarcastically. "Perhaps you'd care to come in here and bring the rest of the 'gang' with you."

Reluctantly Maud pushed the door open wider and entered the room. Enid and Jadu trailed behind her, their heads bowed as they realised that the game was up.

"And what exactly is going on here?" Constance looked from one girl to the next and took in the bowed heads and shuffling feet of the group. "Well don't all rush to answer at once."

"There is a reason for this Miss…" Maud finally found her voice and stammered out the beginnings of an explanation. "It's not what you think."

"So you're saying that you haven't broken school rules and conspired to disguise one pupil as another?" Constance arched an eyebrow and turned to glare at Maud, just daring her to argue. "I beg to differ Maud Moonshine." Maud's head dropped down again and Constance turned back to face the two identical girls.

"Ruby and…" Constance paused as she looked at the other girl in front of her. "And Ruby." She continued with a sarcastic tone. "Perhaps we could have a word."

The two Ruby's exchanged glances and hung their heads low.

Constance turned her head to look at the other girls that were gathered round.

"I think perhaps the rest of you should come along to the Staff Room as well. We need somewhere a little more private to talk about what's going on here."

* * *

Miss Cackle looked up and smiled as she spotted Fenella Feverfew leading her parents towards her. It was always nice to be able to tell parents that their offspring were doing well and, during the course of the evening, she'd had to lie through her teeth to a number of parents. It was going to be refreshing to be able to finally be honest with two of them.

"Hello there!" She beamed at the two nervous looking parents, indicating that they should take a seat. "There's nothing to be scared of." She assured them. "Have you had a chance to meet up with the other members of staff this evening?"

Fenella watched as her parents exchanged glances. She could see the way that they were weighing up whether it was worth recounting the sort of evening that they'd had. They'd had to shout through a cupboard door at Miss Bat, console a tearful Miss Drill when they'd dared to suggest that P.E wasn't perhaps the subject in the curriculum that was closest to a witch's heart and, if they was honest, they couldn't exactly remember anything that Miss Hardbroom had said. They were all convinced that they'd spoken to her but the actual details of the conversation seemed to be foggy when they tried to recall them. Fenella suspected magic but didn't dare suggest the idea out loud.

Mr Feverfew finally turned his head and smiled widely at Miss Cackle.

"It's been a most illuminating evening." He told her with as much sincerity as he could muster.

"Good, good. We're all very proud of what we achieve here." Miss Cackle enthused. "We may only be a small academy but we do pride ourselves on the standards that our pupils reach."

Miss Cackle frowned, as Fenella Feverfew's father seemed to shuffle his chair closer to hers.

"Was there something I could do for you Mr Feverfew?" She enquired nervously.

Mr Feverfew leant in a little closer and winked.

Miss Cackle's eyes widened in surprise and she tried to return her attention to the report card in front of her.

"Your glasses really frame your face beautifully." He whispered to her.

Amelia nearly dropped the report card in shock.

"Really Mr Feverfew." She flustered.

"Call me Nathan." He cooed at her, seemingly oblivious to the growing fury on the face of his wife.

"Dad." Fenella hissed at her father, unable to believe that the man who thought romance was a bunch of flowers picked up at a service station was attempting to flirt with her headmistress.

* * *

Imogen tried to force a smile on her face as she spotted Drusilla's parents making a beeline for her again. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, not certain if she could face another round of trying to justify her job and her position within the school. She opened her eyes and all she could make out were pages of a file. She was in her room and she was flicking through the pages of a file. The pages flashed by so quickly that she could barely make out the words.

She shook her head and tried to clear the image.

"Miss Drill?"

Imogen recognised Drusilla's voice and fought to clear her head of the image that had been there.

"Are you alright Miss?" Drusilla asked. "You look as if you've seen a ghost."

Imogen forced a smile onto her face.

"I'm fine." She assured her pupil. "Now what can I do for you?"

* * *

Constance glared from one girl to the other, trying to find the right words to express her disappointment in them.

Maud stood next to her teacher and stared hard at both the Ruby's that were standing in front of her. She closed her eyes and then opened them again, trying to glare at both of them; she couldn't understand how HB was able to tell them apart.

"Mildred Hubble, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised to find that you are mixed up in this potentially dangerous affair."

Maud watched as the Ruby on the left hung her head.

"It's not Mildred's fault Miss." The Ruby on the right spoke up and Maud's suspicions as to who was who were confirmed.

"And prey tell, just whose fault do you suppose it is?" Miss Hardbroom asked icily. "Are you going to try and claim that it is your parent's fault, or perhaps the schools fault for allowing this evening to take place?"

"No miss." Ruby muttered dejectedly.

"We were only trying to help Ruby." Maud decided that it was time to try and speak up for her friends.

"Oh so you were all in on it, were you?"

There was a groan from Enid and Jadu as they realised that they were now also in trouble. Maud turned her head and glanced apologetically at her friends.

"I'm sorry, but I just couldn't let Mildred take all the blame."

"Very loyal of you Maud Moonshine." Constance noted. "But hardly necessary. It really wasn't much of a stretch of the imagination to suppose that the three of you were in on this as well." She turned her attention back to Mildred. "I suppose it's too much to ask if you remember the precise wording of the spell you used to create this illusion?"

"Well…" Mildred began but her voice dropped away as she felt the full weight of Miss Hardbroom's glare.

"Can you recall perhaps the title of the book you got the spell from?"

Mildred's head dropped lower.

"Surely even you can remember where you were when you read the spell?" Miss Hardbroom's voice rose octaves as her frustration grew.

Mildred swallowed nervously.

"I… well… You see it was…."

"Mildred please, just tell me where you…" Mss Hardbroom tailed off. She shook her head as a nasty thought struck her. There were only a limited number of places in the school where a young witch could get her hands on a spell to affect people's perceptions. "Tell me you weren't in the locked room at the back of the library?" Her eyes searched out Mildred's, hoping that her fears were going to prove to be misplaced. She felt her heart sink a little as Mildred made no effort to reply. Closing her eyes and offering up a prayer to whoever might be listening, she asked her next question.

"Did this spell of yours happen to come from a book with a jet black binding?"

Mildred met HB's gaze and wanted nothing more than to be somewhere else. There was a look on her teacher's face that she'd not seen before; she had the very definite feeling that HB wanted to be told that she was wrong. Mildred winced before nodding slowly; the book had indeed had a jet black binding.

She watched as HB's shoulders drooped a little. That in itself was worrying enough, if there was one person in the whole school who could be relied upon to carry herself ram-rod straight no matter what the situation, it was HB. Something had to be seriously wrong for HB to lose her sense of deportment.

"I hope for your sake you can remember the exact spell you used." HB warned Mildred with a firm tone. "And I do mean the exact spell. If you try and dispel this and the wording is wrong you will only find yourself deeper in trouble."

"That's a dangerous kind of spell to have around." Enid muttered under her breath. Miss Hardbroom's head snapped round to face her.

"That is precisely the reason why books containing spells like this are locked away and stipulated as off limits to pupils. We don't put warnings of danger on things for the good of our health, contrary to what you may think." She turned her attention back to the two Rubys.

"Well Mildred Hubble, I do believe that this could turn out to be your biggest and last mistake during your turbulent stay at Cackles."

"Last mistake?" Mildred queried nervously. "Is the spell that dangerous?"

Miss Hardbroom narrowed her eyes.

"With any luck Mildred I will stop things from going that far but you can rest assured that once this matter is cleared up, you will be clearing up your things and going home with your parents, never to darken the halls of Cackles again."

Maud watched as the Ruby on the left hung her head even lower and she was certain that she could see a tear spring to her eye.

"I could go and get the book for you Miss." Maud offered but Constance shook her head.

"That book is too dangerous to have out in the open at the present time."

"Dangerous?" There was a note of fear in Jadu's tone.

"Yes girl, dangerous. Playing around with people's perceptions is a very complicated affair. It is not something that should be done lightly, if at all. Opening the book was dangerous enough; reopening it in an area where there is so much magic around could be disastrous."

Maud looked guiltily at her teacher.

"Would it work if I went to the book and cast the reversal spell from there?"

Constance weighed up Maud's offer.

"You'd probably be too far away from Mildred for the reversing spell to have its full effect."

"Should I go with Maud then?"

"Certainly not."

Mildred took a step back at the venom in HB's voice.

HB looked around at the small group of girls.

"It is important that that book be kept away from any strong source of magic at the present time. I believe that there is something else out there; something that is waiting to feed on the magic in the air. If that something were to find that book and devour its contents, then I dread to think of what the outcome would be."

Jadu bit her lip nervously.

"I'm not a strong source of magic am I?"

Constance stared down her nose at the young witch for a moment and then she realised what Jadu was hinting at. There were times when the courage of her charges gave her hope for the future. She looked between Maud and Jadu.

"The two of you will have to be very careful; you are to go directly to the book and recite the spell, then you are to come straight back here. There is to be no hanging about, no looking for other spells in the book. Do I make myself clear?"

Maud and Jadu nodded solemnly.

"Very well. Then I suggest that the pair of you act with haste."

* * *

Davina sat entranced and watched as the flowers on the table in front of her seemed to bend and dance with the wind. She watched entranced as each petal rose and fell in time with the music that was issuing forth from the small band of woodland creatures who had begun playing the most enchanting melody. It did cross her mind that it was an uncommon sight to see a badger so proficient with a fiddle but she quickly dispelled the thought from her mind. She sat back in her chair and let their sweet music carry her away.

* * *

Imogen rocked slowly back and forth and clasped her hands to the side of her head. Something was very wrong with the world, every time she closed her eyes she kept seeing herself sitting in her room with that file on her lap. There was more than just the feel of the parchment between her fingers now, she could also smell the clear air of her room and feel the soft touch of her blankets beneath her.

* * *

"Think girl, think." Constance implored her pupil as she hurried her down the corridor towards the Great Hall. She tried, and failed, to keep the impatience out of her voice. "Of all the spell books." She muttered under her breath before turning to address Mildred again. "Why did you have to pick that book?" She questioned. "Why did you have to pick that volume? There are some days in my life Mildred Hubble where I feel as though you are some kind of test sent by Ofwitch to try my patience. This is most definitely one of those days."

"Miss?" Mildred questioned hopefully.

"You have no idea what you've done, do you?"

"Miss?"

"Never mind Mildred, never mind. Just try and think of that spell."

Mildred frowned.

"But surely Maud and Jadu are going to …"

"We could wait for your two friends to bail you out of trouble Mildred, but I, for one, would be much happier if we could end this matter sooner rather than later."

Mildred tried closing her eyes, to see if that would help her to remember. She could feel HB's eyes boring into her, not to mention Enid and Ruby's and the pressure on her increased.


	16. Chapter 16

_I don't know if I should make any rash promises about updates but I will try and get the last few parts of this out in the next couple of weeks. Sorry for the delays with this story; life keeps getting in the way._

* * *

Maud came to a breathless halt in front of the plain wooden door.

"This is it?" Jadu's tone betrayed her disappointment. She had to confess that she had been expecting something more impressive.

"It's just behind this door." Maud confirmed. "There are books in there that bristle with magical energy."

Jadu frowned.

"I thought powerful magical books had to be stored in special bound boxes or magical trunks or something?"

Maud shrugged her shoulders.

"All I know is that the book that we're after is behind this door." She exchanged a nervous look with Jadu. "If I'm honest, some of the books in there give me the creeps."

"Then surely we should use them to help out?"

Maud shook her head.

"HB was pretty insistent that we should just use the one book and get straight back."

"OK." Jadu shrugged her shoulders and tried the door handle. "It's locked."

Maud allowed a small smile to spread across her face and held up her hands.

"I may not be a strong source of magic either but I know how to deal with this."

* * *

Constance held open the door to the Great Hall and sighed heavily. There was magic in the air and it was being cast without any thought as to the potential danger.

Where there had been small groups of people chatting there were now screaming matches, with sides being drawn up and spell-casting fingers being extended. The parents seemed oblivious to the danger that surrounded them and a group of fathers seemed to be inexplicably drawn towards the piano at the far end of the hall.

Constance scanned the room, searching for Miss Cackle but was unable to spot the headmistress within the heaving throng. Taking a deep breath, she prepared to quell the noise the way she would any other group in the hall.

"Silence." She commanded, and as one, the entire hall ceased what they were doing and turned to look in her direction. "If I see one finger raised in an even remotely spell casting fashion, the owner of the offending digit is going to be in detention for the whole of next term." Constance's eyes swept over every figure in the hall, daring them to defy her. "And I don't care whether you are an ex-pupil or not. The rule applies to any witch caught spell-casting without permission for the rest of the evening. Am I making myself clear"

"Yes Miss Hardbroom." The room chorused as one.

Mildred's mouth dropped open as silence descended onto what had been a raucous gathering. She wondered if she'd ever manage to develop the sense of presence that HB seemed to possess.

Constance cast her eyes over the room again as the buzz of conversation gradually returned, she needed to locate Amelia and make her aware of the situation with the two Ruby's. Her mind was now trying to rationalise the sight that had met her eyes when she had entered the hall. Jadu's mother had been convinced that she had seen ghosts, Imogen had seen flashes of the folder and she herself had been convinced that Heckity Broomhead was in the room. She looked down at Mildred and her Ruby disguise and something fell into place.

"I'd say that your 'little spell' was beginning to get out of hand." She told Mildred icily.

Mildred gulped.

"Miss?"

Mildred saw the frown that appeared on HB's face and felt her heart sink.

"You think it's a coincidence that you cast a deception spell and the next minute everyone seems to be at each other's throats and imagining that they are seeing things that aren't really there?"

Mildred's eyes widened in horror.

"But I was only…."

"Trying to help?" Constance finished the sentence off and sighed heavily. "I really wish you'd think before acting Mildred." She cast her eyes over the room's occupants again, wondering just what spell Mildred had used.

* * *

Thomas Nightshade was fast coming to the conclusion that he didn't like girls at all. From what he could make out, they were all either bossy or just plain scary.

He'd snuck away from his mother's side as soon as he could. She'd wanted him to stay next to her but she obviously didn't understand the sort of things that were there to be explored in the school. There were dark corners and locked doors and all sorts of exciting things outside of the hall they were presently standing in.

He'd edged away from her as soon as she'd started talking about something called predicted grades; he wasn't sure what they were but he was fairly convinced that they weren't really as interesting as his mother seemed to think they were.

He'd only been away from her side for a few moments when things had started to get really weird.

He knew that witches weren't allowed to practice magic on each other; that there were rules that governed that sort of behaviour. So he'd stood open mouthed as magic started flying around. He looked around, trying to remember where his parent's were standing. They might be extremely boring, but they were safe and safe was most definitely something that he wanted to feel.

He scanned the hall again and failed to spot them amidst the crowd of bodies. He felt tears of frustration well up inside but he fought back against them. If he couldn't find his parents then he'd go to Enid. He'd spotted her with the scary tall teacher from earlier. Scary she might be, but he had the feeling that he was going to safer with her.

* * *

Maud slowly pushed the creaking wooden door and stuck her head around the opening.

"Move up." Jadu told her friend impatiently and tried to force her way into the room.

Reluctantly Maud allowed herself to be pushed forward. There was something about the atmosphere around her that set her teeth on edge, something in the air that made her uneasy.

She turned her head to regard her friend as she heard the low whistle.

"I did warn you."

Jadu raised a hand and half-expected to see magic sparks jumping from her fingers; the whole room seemed to be alive with the crackle of raw magic.

"This is impossible." She breathed as she heard the whisper of magic on the edge of her hearing.

"You can understand why HB didn't want Mildred to come back here if there is something out there waiting to feed on raw magic. This place is alive."

Jadu dragged her attention away from the sight of the books in front of her and looked at her friend.

"Do you believe what she said about there being something on the loose?"

Maud shrugged.

"Why would she lie?"

"To stop us doing something like this again."

"Perhaps, but your mum was freaked out by something that wasn't there, remember?"

Jadu frowned, not sure that she liked being reminded of the fact.

"Let's just find this spell and get back, shall we?"

Maud nodded and headed to the table where the book was still sitting.

"It should be just…" She broke off as she realised that the book in front of her was once again on the wrong page.

"What's up?" Jadu moved in to stand at her friends shoulder.

"It's the book." Maud decided that it was probably best to tell the truth. "When we were in here before the pages turned by themselves." She gestured towards the book. "It looks as though it's done it again."

Jadu tried and failed to stop the shiver that ran down her spine.

"What if it won't let us find the reversal spell?" She whispered.

Maud pulled a face.

"I can't see why it would want to stop us." She pointed out. "And why are you whispering?"

Jadu shrugged her shoulders.

"The book gives me the creeps."

Maud spared her friend a glance before taking a deep breath and turning the pages of the book.

Finally, she stopped and tapped at the spell on the page in front of her.

"This is the spell we used." She announced firmly.

"And we reverse it how?"

Maud tapped at the spell on the opposite page.

"This is the one." She pushed her glasses an inch further up her nose. "Well at least I think it is."

Jadu looked across at Maud, hoping that her friend would know what was going on.

"So do we go for it?"

Maud shrugged her shoulders and looked closer at the spell.

"This looks different somehow." She couldn't put her finger on what the change was, but she was certain that something wasn't right.

"It is a reversing spell though, isn't it?" Jadu implored, wanting nothing more than to be away from the room as quickly as possible. She wasn't sure if it was her imagination or not, but she was certain that she could hear murmuring coming from the books on the shelf behind her.

Maud nodded.

"This has to be it."

Maud tried to stay her shaking hands and mentally ran through the words of the spell again.

"On the count of three." She told Jadu.

Jadu frowned.

"Can you do powerful spells on the count of three?"

Maud sighed.

"Well do you have a better suggestion?"

Jadu confessed that she had nothing better to offer and indicated that Maud should start the count. As her friend uttered the word 'three', she crossed her fingers behind her back and began the chant.

* * *

"You did a bad thing." Thomas Nightshade stood and glared up at his sister. He'd listened in to the conversation that was going on around him and he was certain that his sister was partly to blame for whatever it was that was now happening.

"Sshhh." Enid urged her brother. "Now really isn't the time for this."

"But you did bad magic." Thomas persisted. "You cast a bad spell."

"No I didn't." Enid told her brother forcefully.

Thomas looked from one Ruby to the other and tried to understand what was going on."

"I'm going to tell Mum on you." He announced finally, deciding to stick to the tried and trusted way of dealing with things that he didn't really understand.

"Shut up."

"I'm gonna tell Mum and you're going to be in trouble." He told her smugly.

"I've had just about enough of you." Enid snapped. "You're just a nasty little toadying creep." A thought crossed her mind and a smile formed on her face. "A little toad, that's exactly what you are."

Thomas looked up at the determined expression on his sister's face and his nerves failed him. He turned on his heels and headed across the hall to where he'd last seen his parents. The smile on Enid's face widened and she set off after her brother.

* * *

Mildred was beginning to feel distinctly uncomfortable. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other and prayed that her friends would soon cast the spell and remove the Ruby image that she was projecting. There was something decidedly unnerving about having HB glaring at you all the time. Mildred supposed that her potions teacher was waiting for some sign of the reversing spell having an effect; all she knew was that she wanted to get away from the intense scrutiny that she was presently under.

"Ahh, that's better."

Mildred automatically stared down at herself, expecting to see some sort of change. She heard the sigh from HB and knew that she'd made a mistake.

"Things won't look any different to you Mildred. It was the perception of others that you changed; as far as you were concerned, there was no difference."

"Yes Miss." Mildred mumbled by way of a response.

"I suppose that I have to say that it's good to see you Mildred; although you may disagree once we've had a little talk about your attempt to cast powerful magic over the occupants of the school." Constance told her young pupil firmly.

She watched the way that Mildred's head dropped and tried to suppress a sigh. There was, she decided, something inherently frustrating about Mildred Hubble. During her years of teaching, she'd had her fair share of unruly pupils; girls who thought that they could use magic in any way that they thought fit. They had been easy to bring into line. Mildred Hubble on the other hand did things because she misguidedly thought that she was helping others; she got away with things because Miss Cackle would take one look at what had happened and immediately take Mildred's side. Constance looked at the disconsolate expression on her young pupil's face and resolved not to let the situation get to her. The thing to do was to set the matter before Miss Cackle as soon as possible, to show how all the things that were going wrong could be traced back to the actions of Mildred Hubble and her friends

Constance scanned the hall again but was still unable to locate Miss Cackle. She pursed her lips and tried to imagine where Amelia might be hiding.

She fleetingly thought that the head of the school might be holed up in her office with a huge slice of cheesecake and a guilty expression on her face but she quickly dismissed that thought. Although Amelia certainly had a weakness for cheesecake, Constance doubted that she'd abandon her post during such an important occasion.

She was about to begin a more thorough tour of the hall when a muffled shout reached her ears. Constance turned her head in the direction of the shout and allowed a brief look of surprise to ghost across her face as she caught sight of the very person she had been looking for.

Amelia was perched on the top of the piano and seemed to be fending off attention from a number of fathers who were gathered around the piano's base. Rolling her eyes at the situation Amelia seemed to find herself in; Constance began to make her way towards her.

She had only walked a few paces when she was stopped by the arrival of Jadu and Maud.

"Miss, Miss…"

Constance frowned as she heard the voice of two of her pupils.

"We've cast the spell Miss." Maud announced breathlessly.

"So I can see." Constance replied dryly.

Maud followed her teacher's pointed gaze and she took in the abashed expression on Mildred's face. She smiled to herself; at least it was her friend's true face now and not the Ruby façade.

"Is that it now?"

Constance sighed in a somewhat theatrical manner and indicated the chaos that was going on all around her.

"Does this look as though everything is back to normal?" She looked at Mildred and then back to Maud and Jadu. "Are you sure that you carried out the spell correctly?"

"Yes Miss." Maud replied immediately.

Constance narrowed her eyes.

"You didn't deviate from the instructions at all? Didn't put in an extra breath or gesture that wasn't stipulated in the book?"

"No Miss." Maud was confident in her reply.

Constance's attention snapped to Jadu.

"You've remained remarkably quiet so far. Is there something you'd like to say?"

Jadu shifted her weight from one foot to the other and wished that she was somewhere else.

"Would it matter Miss if I…" She tailed off, not certain if what she was about to say was going to be relevant or not.

"If you what, Jadu Wali?"

"I wasn't certain that the spell was going to work Miss and so I crossed my fingers for luck."

"What!"

Jadu wasn't sure if the tone in HB's voice was one of disbelief or anger. She raised her eyes and tried to meet the gaze of her teacher. HB's eyes were blazing and she appeared to be finding it difficult to speak.

"Miss?"

Constance finally let out a low breath.

"I hope you realise you know what you've just done?"

"Miss?" Jadu's voice was less confident.

"You've nullified the reversal spell."

"But Mildred…" Maud was struggling to understand what was going on.

"Oh I know Maud Moonshine. Mildred is back to herself but the deception magic is still in the air and now it doesn't have a focus, a purpose if you like."

She looked down at the confused expression on the face of her two pupils.

"The magic is out there and now it has nothing to contain it. If my theory is correct then there is something out there that is waiting to feed on it." She paused. "And you've just invited it in for a free lunch."


	17. Chapter 17

Mildred watched as HB swept away from Jadu and Maud. She frowned; from what she had seen, it had looked as though HB was berating Jadu for something. If the spell was finally lifted then Mildred couldn't understand what could be bothering HB so; surely Maud and Jadu's actions had just saved the day.

She turned her head as Enid made her way back to her side. Her friend was swinging a paper bag at her side and had a wide smile plastered across her face.

"Why are you looking so pleased with yourself?" She asked.

Enid's smile grew wider and there was a definite twinkle in her eye.

"I've just done something I should have done ages ago."

"And that would be…"

Enid opened the bag that she was now clutching in both hands. Mildred's eyes widened as she looked into the bag and saw the toad that was sitting unhappily at the bottom.

"Tell me that's not Ethel!" There was genuine fear in Mildred's voice; Enid had threatened to try to turn their classmate into a toad on numerous occasions but Mildred had never really thought that she was serious about it.

She was more than a little relived when her friend shook her head.

"It's not Ethel, although I have to say I'm more than a little tempted."

Mildred grabbed hold of Enid's arm.

"Don't even think about it." She warned her friend. "We're in enough trouble as it is."

"Lighten up." Enid chided her. "Can't you feel the magic in the air? Don't you just want to let fly and join in?"

Mildred shook her head.

"Don't you understand the amount of trouble that I'm in?" She pleaded with her friend. "HB says that the magic that was in the air was potentially dangerous. Please don't do anything to make things worse."

Enid shook Mildred's arm off.

"Come on Millie, let your hair down for once."

Mildred didn't reply but simply snatched the bag from her friend's grasp and placed it on the floor.

"Reversus revolvus…"

"Mildred!" There was real frustration in Enid's voice and Mildred stopped reciting the reversing spell.

"I don't care who it is Enid, you can't go around turning people into toads."

"Well should you be casting magic when HB told you not to?"

Mildred's hands paused in mid-cast as she considered the thought.

"This isn't a very powerful spell. It's in Spell casting 101 so I can't imagine that it could cause that much trouble."

Enid harrumphed by way of response and folded her arms tightly across her chest.

Mildred tried to ignore the dirty looks that her friend was giving her and concentrated on turning the toad back into whoever it had been before.

"Ugh!" Maud exclaimed in disgust as she and Jadu came to join Mildred. Maud had always tried to love all animals, but there was something about a toad that still had that certain 'ick' factor.

Mildred lowered her hands again as Maud distracted her.

"Before you ask, it wasn't me."

Maud raised her eyes from the toad and looked at Enid.

"Ethel?"

Enid shook her head.

"Drusilla then?" Jadu suggested.

Enid shook her head again, seeming to like the guessing game.

"And before you ask, it's not HB." Enid decided to try and make things a little easier.

"I know that." Maud told her, jerking her thumb over her shoulder. "We've just been on the receiving end of one of 'those' lectures from her."

Mildred looked puzzled.

"That's what it looked like to me, but surely everything's fine now. I mean I am back to normal, aren't I?"

Jadu nodded.

"As far as you are concerned everything is back to normal. No more Ruby impressions."

"Jadu crossed her fingers when reciting the spell." Maud explained. "And HB seems to think that that's a bad thing."

Mildred frowned and looked around.

"Well I suppose that everyone is still acting a little weird."

Maud rolled her eyes.

"I'd say that was something of an understatement."

"So who's the toad then?" Jadu pointed down at the toad, which was somehow managing to look very sorry for itself.

"Enid won't say." Mildred narrowed her eyes and glared at her friend.

Enid shrugged her shoulders, still not understanding why Mildred was making such a big issue out of the whole thing.

"If you really must know, it's my brother."

"Little Thomas?" Maud's voice shot up an octave. "How could you do such a thing?"

"You didn't seem to think it was such a bad thing to do when you thought that it was Ethel or Dru." Enid pointed out but Maud was quick on the counter.

"It's one thing to cast a spell on a fellow witch, it's another thing entirely to cast a spell on a non-magical member of the family."

"How could you?" Jadu joined in with the protest.

Enid glanced at the expressions on the faces of her three friends and sighed heavily.

"As you are all so concerned about it."

She raised her hands and began casting the reversing spell.

Thomas Nightshade looked down at his hands and then up at the group of girls around him. There were so many thoughts spinning round in his head that he didn't know where to start. He glared at Enid, his bottom lip starting to quiver.

"I'm sure Enid didn't mean to turn you into a toad." Mildred tried to reassure the young boy but her words fell on deaf ears.

"Bad witches." Thomas yelled at the top of his voice. "I'm telling my mum on you lot."

"Don't do that." Enid stepped forward and grabbed her brother by the arm. "You say anything to mum and I'll make sure that you're hopping mad for the rest of the night."

Thomas snatched his arm away from his sister's grip.

"You're not allowed to cast spells on me." He shouted at her. "You're going to get grounded when I tell mum."

"Well then I'll have to make sure that you can't tell her then, won't I?" Enid threatened.

Thomas's face crumpled and tears sprang to his eyes.

"You're all wicked witches and I hate you all." He yelled at them. "I hope you all grow up to have green skin and warts and and and…" He desperately thought of something to top off his list with but was unable to come up with anything.

"Aww Thomas." Mildred made to follow him but felt a hand on her arm.

"There's no point in following him deary." A voice cackled in her ear.

Mildred spun round and her mouth dropped open in shock at the sight before her. Where her friends had been standing there was now a collection of the ugliest witches she had ever seen. They all looked as though they had escaped from fairy tales. Their noses were hooked and their faces liberally covered in hairy warts. As they came closer she could hear them cackling. She swallowed nervously and attempted to talk to them.

"Look I don't know who you are, or where you came from, but I can promise you that I'm not a threat to you. I'm not going to do anything to hurt you so I'd really appreciate if you didn't do anything to hurt me."

The group of witches appeared to not be listening and kept coming. Mildred backed away until she felt the cold stone of the wall behind her. She closed her eyes and offered up a small prayer. When she opened her eyes again, nothing had changed, save for the fact that the group of witches were now that bit closer.

Mildred took a deep breath and called upon all her strength. If she was going to take them all out, it was going to take the most powerful spell she knew.

* * *

Constance watched the events that were unfolding in front of her. She knew that what she was seeing was somehow a distorted view of reality. She closed her eyes and focussed her thoughts before opening her eyes again and trying to see what was really going on.

She quickly spotted Mildred and recognised the stance of a witch about to cast some pretty major magic around. Realising that there was no time to waste, she set about casting a containment spell.

"Constance!"

Constance tried to block out the anguished cry from Miss Cackle and concentrate on dealing with the group of witches in front of her.

"Constance!" The plea came again and this time the voice was even more desperate. Closing her eyes tightly, Constance concentrated on the spell that she was trying to perform. She could hear shouting from the other side of the room and she made a mental note to herself that she would deal with Miss Cackle's problems the moment she was free.

"If I can't have you then no-one can." A deep male voice boomed in Constance's ear, putting her off her spell again. Moments later she felt someone push her out of the way.

"Really!" She exclaimed and froze the man in place with a paralysing spell. "I think you need to take a moment or two to think about what you've just done." She rebuked him before returning her attention to the plight of the girls. For what was perhaps the first time on record, Constance was glad of Mildred's inability to get a spell right. The group of girls approaching her were still unharmed although they now appeared to be fighting their way out from beneath a pile of bedclothes. Despite the urgency of the situation, Constance rolled her eyes. Trust Mildred Hubble to screw up a simple blanket spell. Muttering the final words of the spell beneath her breath, Constance held her hands out in front of her and a crackle of red energy emerged from her extended fingers. The magic enveloped Mildred and the young witch was trapped within a semi-transparent bubble.

Satisfied that Mildred was, for the moment at least, not a danger to anyone, Constance turned her attention to Miss Cackle.

Amelia Cackle was at that precise moment, most definitely not amused. She was perched precariously upon the top of the piano and attempting to beat back the ever-growing crowd of men that were trying to reach her.

Swiping at the nearest man, who'd managed to get a hand on the bottom of her gown, she struggled to maintain, not only her dignity, but also her balance.

"A little help here would be appreciated Constance." She called out; a note of desperation plain in her voice as there was another surge forward.

* * *

Mildred blinked and wondered just what was going on. She stared out at the Great Hall, feeling somehow apart from everything that was going on in the room. She tried to take in the chaotic scene in front of her; everyone seemed to be in a state of panic. The scene was one of complete mayhem but there was one thing that it was missing. She frowned and swallowed hard, waiting for her ears to pop. They duly popped but nothing changed. All she could hear was the sound of her own breathing. She shook her head and tried to understand what was going on. There was something else that was wrong with the scene as well; everything looked slightly grey; almost as though she were staring at it through a net curtain. She attempted to take a pace forward but collided with an invisible barrier. She retreated a pace and rubbed at her forehead. Something very funny was going on with the world and she couldn't work out exactly what it was. Her attention was drawn to the sight of her headmistress standing on top of the piano and swatting at a group of parents who seemed intent on reaching her. For the life of her, Mildred couldn't imagine what they were trying to do.

* * *

Amelia batted away another would be suitor and tried to make eye contact with her deputy.

"What on earth is going on?"

A smile ghosted across Constance's face.

"As unlikely as it may seem, you appear to have become some kind of irresistible femme fatale." She gestured at the men who were now beginning to push and shove each other in their efforts to get to Amelia's side. "You appear to have some sort of magnetic attraction. I fear that they will stop at nothing to get to you."

Miss Cackle frowned, not amused either by the situation, or the amusement that she felt she could detect in her deputy's tone of voice.

"Well can't you do something about them?" She smacked another hand away. "They really are beginning to try my patience."

"Very well." Constance cricked her neck, cracked her knuckles and prepared to cast a spell.

"But remember that at the end of the day they are parents." Miss Cackle called out. "You can't do anything that might cause them to sue once this is all over."

Constance let out a heavy sigh and lowered her hands.

"You either want me to deal with them or you don't." She remarked pointedly, pausing for a moment to point her spell-casting fingers in the direction of Fenny who was about to leap off the stage, using a hockey stick in place of a broomstick. She gestured with her fingers and a safety mat appeared on the ground. She turned her attention back to Miss Cackle. "I could try removing them all to the dungeons?" She suggested.

Miss Cackle opened her mouth to point out that false imprisonment was a crime, but she was distracted by a loud thump from her left hand side. She frowned as she spotted Fenella Feverfew. The girl appeared to be lying in a heap on a safety mat, clutching a hockey stick in one hand.

"Just precisely what is going on here?" She demanded to know.

Constance pulled a face.

"There's a little magic on the loose."

"I would say Miss Hardbroom, that that was something of an understatement. Just what kind of…." Miss Cackle broke off her question as at that moment Griselda Blackwood's father finally managed to gain purchase on the piano. He pulled himself up onto the top and faced Miss Cackle, his arms spread wide, waiting for an embrace.

"My darling." He proclaimed.

Constance coughed and waggled her pointing fingers.

"With your permission headmistress?"

"Do it." Miss Cackle called back desperately. "Do it and do it quickly."

Constance closed her eyes and started drawing her strength together. It was one thing to transport one's class from the potion's lab to the Great Hall; it was another matter entirely to try to move an entire room full of people. She felt her little fingers and forefingers extend as the magic began to build up and she shifted all her attention to the task at hand. She felt, rather than saw, her magic extend out and cover the room. She became acutely aware of every dark corner of the room and every small crack in the old stone walls. She took a deep steadying breath and waited for the adrenaline rush that came from casting a spell that was so powerful.

She frowned. There was something wrong. The energy didn't flow from her fingers in the way that she was expecting. The frown deepened, there was something preventing her from casting the spell; the magic was there but something was in the air, blocking her from completing the final action.

"What's happening?"

Constance clicked her tongue against her teeth as she heard Amelia's question. It was never a pleasant thing to have to admit to someone that you couldn't make a spell work. Refusing to be defeated, Constance closed her eyes again and tried to concentrate on what she was trying to do.

"There's something wrong, isn't there?" Amelia finally asked.

Constance sighed heavily and dropped her hands to her side.

"Well I might manage a little better if I didn't have you constantly prattling at my side and putting me off."

"Well I'm very sorry if you feel that I am prattling Constance." Amelia replied a little hurt at her deputy's voice.

"I'll try something else." Constance decided that it was probably best to try something simple. She closed her eyes and mentally ran through a list of possible alternatives. After discarding a number of more complicated options, she settled on a tried and trusted favourite. Holding her arms out again she snapped her hands from the wrist and froze the occupants of the room.

Amelia tilted her head forward and stared over the top of her glasses at the frozen tableau in front of her. She had to confess that she was always a little impressed when Constance pulled of magical feats such as this. She was the first to admit that she had let her own magic slip a little since passing out from Witch Training College and, although she could still pack a mean magical punch, she knew her limits.

Constance let her arms drop to her side and she looked, with a certain degree of pride, at the hall of frozen parents. She sighed in annoyance as she realised that she'd inadvertently frozen Miss Bat and Miss Drill as well. She'd intended to leave them out of the spell in the same way that she'd excluded Miss Cackle. She shook her head; it was hard to be perfect when there was something fighting against you.

Her attention was distracted by a quiet clunking sound. She clicked her tongue against her teeth as she realised the source of the noise; she'd forgotten about Mildred in her protective bubble. She thought about it for a moment and decided it was probably safer to leave her in there for the time being. She turned her head and looked at what was going on in the hall. The scene was one of total confusion, if she didn't get things under control soon, then she was certain that things would degenerate to such an extent that she wouldn't be able to do anything at all to stop them.

More clunking sounds came from the direction of Mildred's bubble and, sighing heavily, Constance turned her attention towards the stricken pupil.

Mildred was banging on the walls of the bubble with both hands and shouting out something that Constance couldn't make out.

"Calm down girl." She called out impatiently, but the banging on the bubble's surface continued unabated. Sighing, Constance muttered a few words and altered the parameters of the spell so that sound could penetrate the barrier.

"Let me out, let me out." Mildred's voice now boomed across the Great Hall.

Constance winced and motioned for Mildred to lower her voice.

Mildred closed her mouth as noise assaulted her ears again. She reached out with a hand but still found that the barrier was in place.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"Your spell Mildred. I'd say that your 'simple' spell has got a little out of hand."

"What am I doing in here?" Mildred asked plaintively.

"I'm trying to stop you from causing any more damage."

"Me miss?"

"Yes you Mildred." Constance replied acidly. She indicated the small group of frozen people, who were covered in bedclothes. "I assume you were trying to cast some kind of blanket spell?"

Mildred looked at the group and her mouth dropped open.

"I was being chased by a group of wicked witches." The memory came flooding back and she remembered the very real fear that she had felt. "Who are they?" She asked breathlessly.

Constance arched an eyebrow.

"They're your classmate's Mildred. Now I'd agree that they are bad when it comes to getting work handed in on time… but I wouldn't have gone so far as to say they were 'wicked'."

Mildred's hands flew to her face as she realised that she'd come close to hurting her friends. She shook her head, not really understanding what was going on.

"But…"

"That perception altering spell you cast Mildred; I have a nasty feeling that it's going to be hard to get rid of."

Mildred's face creased into a frown.

"I don't understand. Surely the spell is over now." She indicated her own appearance. I mean I'm back now….aren't I?"

Constance rolled her eyes at the predictable question.

"I really don't have the time to explain it to you now." She stated in an exasperated tone, before turning her head to the left and muttering something under her breath.

Mildred automatically followed her teacher's gaze and watched in abject horror as her parents were suddenly sent flying to the far wall.

"What are you doing?" Mildred protested angrily, before spotting that Ethel and Drusilla were in the process of spell casting and that her parents had been standing directly in the firing line. "Thanks Miss." She added quietly as she watched a ball of flame appear in the place where her parents had been standing.

Constance however was far too busy to hear Mildred. All around her now, things were getting out of hand. Magic filled the air, Constance could feel it as it crackled and moved around her, almost like an extra presence in the room. She could sense that it was growing stronger, gaining strength, as though it was trying to become an entity in its own right. She tried to shake the thoughts out of her head. This was not the time to give in to flights of fancy; this was the time to tackle the problem head on.


	18. Chapter 18

_**Nearing the climax of this story now. Thanks to all those that have managed to stay with it despite my sporadic postings; I do appreciate your comments. Sometimes it's the kick up the bum I need to get the next part written. **_

* * *

"Constance?"

Constance turned her head as she heard Miss Cackle call out to her. She noticed that Amelia was still perched on top of the piano.

"Do you want me to get you down?" She asked, trying to keep the amusement out of her voice.

"I think I can manage that, thank you." Amelia replied huffily. "I just want to know what's going on?"

"It seems I missed a couple of people out of the freezing spell."

Amelia frowned.

"That wasn't what I meant but I'm sure that I saw them frozen a few seconds ago."

Constance pointed at the Ethel and Drusilla and put them back under the freezing spell before they could complain.

"If there's something here that's over-powering the effects of spells then I really think we could have something to worry about."

"What's caused all this in the first place?"

"It would appear that Mildred Hubble and friends were trying to…" Constance broke off mid-sentence and swept her eyes across the room. "There's something here." She announced calmly.

Amelia tried to follow her deputy's gaze but found that she could see nothing. She pushed her glasses further up her nose.

"What kind of something?" She knew that her colleague was more attuned to the intricacies of magic than she was.

Constance shook her head as though dismissing a thought.

"It may be nothing." She admitted. "But for a moment, I thought that I sensed something."

Amelia wasn't so quick to let the thought go. Constance had spent her entire life immersed in magic and it was unlike her to make a warning like that without reason.

"What sort of something was it?"

Constance felt a shiver run down her spine, a feeling that she was unaccustomed to, unless someone had the temerity to mention Mistress Broomhead's name in her presence. She tried to shake the feeling of unease that accompanied the shiver.

"I fear that Mildred's little attempt at deception is getting dangerously out of control." She admitted. "There is something in the air, something malevolent."

Amelia looked around as though expecting to be able to see something dark and demon like lurking in a corner.

"What sort of something malevolent?"

Constance shook her head.

"I can't be certain." She admitted.

"You were saying something about Mildred and a deception?" Amelia reminded her.

Constance pulled a face and tried to summarise what Mildred had done.

"I can't be certain of the spell but Mildred used something from one of the forbidden books to cast a perception altering spell on herself. She's spent most of the evening masquerading as Ruby Cherrytree."

Amelia opened her mouth to ask why on earth she'd done such a thing but stopped herself. There were more pressing things to deal with.

"Where on earth did Mildred get her hands on one of the forbidden books?" Amelia took in the uncomfortable look on Constance's face. "You have one of the volumes?"

Constance did her best to look apologetic.

"Actually I have all of the volumes."

"But they're…."

"Kept under lock and key." Constance cut across the complaint that she was certain Amelia was about to level at her. "They've been within the school for years and have never caused us any trouble."

"Until now."

Constance pursed her lips.

"I hardly think that this is the direct fault of the books. I rather think that the fault lies at Mildred's door on this one."

"Now is hardly the time to be pointing the finger." Amelia chided.

Constance harrumphed.

"If anything this is exactly the time when someone should be pointing fingers, but until Mildred can recall exactly what spell she incanted, there's nothing I can do. These sorts of spells require an exact reversal spell and Maud Moonshine and Jadu Wali seem to have managed to make a mess of that."

Amelia tried to forget her anger at the discovery that the forbidden volumes had been brought into the school and tried to cast her mind back to everything she had ever been taught about the books.

"I thought that the books contained some pretty serious magic." She recalled. "How is it possible that Mildred managed to get one of them to work?"

"How indeed." Constance agreed. "Mildred's grasp of the fundamentals of magic is still hazy at best." She thought about the problem for a few moments. "It takes a great deal of skill to be able to cast one of the spells."

"But you're certain that Mildred is our spell-caster?"

Constance nodded.

"She admitted as much and I, for one, am inclined to believe her. I don't doubt that she had the backing of her usual merry band of followers but I believe that she was the one who attempted the spell."

"But if she wasn't able to grasp the fundamentals of the spell, how would she be able to cast it?"

Constance frowned.

"As you yourself are aware Miss Cackle, it takes more than just the right words to cast a spell."

"But to cast a spell that could do all this?"

Constance shook her head.

"I get the feeling that there is more magic in the air, something that's potentially far more dangerous, and the magic in the deception spell drew it here."

"Mildred was given a place here partly because of her imagination." Amelia reminded her.

"Ahhh." Constance came to a realisation. "I was forgetting Mildred Hubble's rather overactive imagination." She turned to face Amelia, needing her to understand the potential seriousness of the situation. "If I'm right then there is a magical entity at work. Mildred's vivid illusions will have drawn it in and the magic that is flying around in the air will feed it."

Amelia regarded her colleague nervously.

"You're saying that we have magical entity in our midst?"

Constance nodded slowly.

"I'm rather afraid that that is exactly what I am saying. You know as well as I do just how those things like to feed on magic. There is confusion in the air and it will be able to use that to its advantage. It will be able to take any spell and bend the parameters to fit its own ends" Constance nodded in Miss Cackle's direction. "Look what it's turned you into." She did her best to ignore the huffing noises that came from Amelia. Shaking her head, Constance came to a snap decision. "We need to get as many people away from the centre of the disturbance as we can. The fewer sources of magic and confusion it has to draw on, the better and the sooner we can round it up and banish it back to wherever it came from."

Amelia looked round at the frozen tableau that surrounded her.

"How are we going to get people out of here if we're planning on putting the place under some sort of magical lockdown? Surely any large spell cast now would only make things worse?"

Constance grimaced. She had been hoping that Amelia wouldn't get round to that question quite so soon.

"I can't really keep them frozen for much longer." She confessed. "I can already feel something beginning to eat away at the spell."

As if on cue, the spell failed and the silence of the room was shattered as everyone continued on as before. Miss Cackle covered her ears and frantically motioned to Constance, indicating that she should do something. Constance in turn frowned. It was all very well of Amelia to get herself into a flap and demand that things were done, it was another matter entirely to be on the receiving end of the flap and be expected to perform miracles. Cricking her neck and trying to block out the intrusion of noise, Constance concentrated again on a spell to freeze everyone in place. It wasn't a spell that was designed for long term use as it did have some unfortunate side-effects if applied for too long. Although it froze people in place, it didn't actually stop the body's normal metabolism. Constance crossed her fingers and hoped that the school's plumbing system would be able to cope with the inevitable stampede that would take place later.

As she let the magic flow from her fingers, she felt something attempting to block her. She frowned and closed her eyes, concentrating on pushing the magic out to cover everything in the room. Satisfied that she had overcome the force, she released the magic and sighed with relief as it settled into place without a fuss.

* * *

Mildred stood within the safety of her protective bubble, her attention fixed completely on HB as she prepared to cast a spell. All the pupils suspected that she was the most powerful witch in the school, what they disagreed on was the extent of those powers. Mildred was quite convinced, and had been since her first day at Cackles, that HB was possibly the most powerful witch that she was ever likely to meet. Enid, on the other hand was not so convinced of HB's strengths. Her argument ran along the lines of 'if she's such a powerful witch, what's she doing at a 3rd rate academy like Cackles?' Mildred had never warmed to the description of Cackle's as 3rd rate and she was certain that HB had her reasons for staying at the school.

Constance approached the bubble that surrounded Mildred and glared in at her.

For the first time in her life, Mildred understood how animals in a zoo must feel. She swallowed and waited for the verbal barrage that she was certain was about to come her way.

"Can you remember the spell?"

Mildred was so surprised by the calm tone in her teacher's voice that, had she been able, she would have taken a pace backwards.

"This is important Mildred."

Mildred closed her eyes and tried to visualise the page in the book.

"I'm sorry." She finally opened her eyes and met her teacher's gaze. "Every time I try and focus on it the words just seem to swim out of focus."

"Hhmm." HB seemed to be mulling the information over. "Keep trying Mildred. I can't be certain but there may be something trying to block your memories. With Maud and Jadu making such a hash of reversing the spell, I need to know exactly what it was you said."

Constance turned back to face Miss Cackle.

"We have to act fast, there's definitely something in the air and it's getting stronger."

"I can't see anything." Amelia admitted, although she could now feel the pressure change in the air.

"It's on the edge of your vision." Constance tried to explain. "If you turn your head to look at it then it won't be there. Use your peripheral vision and I promise you that you will see it."

Amelia followed her deputy's instruction and sure enough, there, on the very edge of her vision was something. She tried to squint and then to turn her head slightly to get a better look at it, but the moment she did so, the image seemed to blend into the background. What she could see on the edge of her vision was a vague billowing cloud of coloured gas; it formed and reformed constantly, seemingly trying to attain a stable shape but failing.

"What can we do?" Amelia found herself asking.

Constance shook her head.

"I get the feeling that it was drawn here by the magic in the spell that Mildred cast and as long as some of that magic remains in the air, I'm not sure how we're going to shift it."

"Can't you dispel the spell?"

Constance rolled her eyes and tried to keep the impatience out of her voice.

"If that were possible, do you imagine that we would be having this conversation?"

Amelia swallowed nervously.

"Just how powerful can that thing become?"

"Theoretically its power is limitless. If it can gain enough strength, it will be able to establish itself in a solid form and will then proceed to feed on as much magic as it can."

"So whilst everyone is frozen we're safe?"

Constance pulled a face.

"Not exactly. It is magic after all that is keeping everyone frozen."

* * *

In a corner of the room, energy swirled and whirled and fed on the magic that filled the air. With nothing to stop it and a seemingly limitless supply of magic to feed on, it knew that there was a chance that it could once again attain corporeal form. If it managed to achieve that, then there was nothing that could stop it.

It swirled again, sending out tendrils of energy and trying to work out where the focus of the magic was. The air was full of magic, full of magic that it wanted, it needed, to gain form. But there was other magic in the air, and the energy, even in its current weak state, knew that that magic was a danger. It bristled as it felt the other magic source spread itself over the contents of the hall. It tried to push against it, but the wielder of the magic was too strong and simply pushed it aside. Intelligence was forming in the centre of the energy; as it gained strength it gained understanding, it gained sentience. There was someone in the room trying to prevent it from feeding. There was therefore someone in the room that had to be stopped. Confusion had worked well on the other occupants of the room; in fact it had been surprised at just how easy it had been to manipulate the perceptions of others, to take the magic that it fed upon and to turn it back against the people in the room. Perhaps increasing the level of magic in the air would be enough to overcome the obstacle. It drew its strength together and focussed its efforts on what it perceived to be the strongest magical entities in the room.

* * *

Constance closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to clear her thoughts. She could feel the magic energy as it swirled and whirled in the air around her. She knew that it was getting stronger but what she wasn't certain of was just how long she'd be able to resist its effects. It was obviously stepping up its attacks and she was certain that it wouldn't belong before the entity took on solid form.

Satisfied that she'd cleared her mind, she opened her eyes again and tried to get a clear view on what was happening in the room.

Information flooded into her brain and she struggled to separate what she knew to be real from the illusion that was being supplied by the presence.

* * *

The energy hissed and spat as it realised that its attempts were failing and that whoever was wielding the counter magic in the room was still somehow resisting it. It needed to feed on the powerful magic that was in the air if it was going to survive. There was only one thing for it, it had to abandon its attempt at hiding and go on the offensive.

* * *

"What is that?"

Constance turned her head as she heard Amelia's question. Coming out of the shadows was a multi-coloured whirling wall of energy. Thousands of strands of raw magic wound their way through and round one another, all of them crackling with energy, all of them determined to feed on the room's strongest sources of magic.

"I rather think that the entity has got tired of waiting."

Amelia swallowed.

"That's what Mildred summoned?"

"In a manner of speaking." Constance took one look at the approaching wall of energy and made a snap decision. "Excuse me Miss Cackle."

"For what?" Amelia asked.

"This." Constance waved her hand and froze Amelia where she stood. She then turned silently to face the approaching entity. "There are other ways to conduct business." She tried to persuade it. "There is no need to take this approach."

The swirling cloud of energy halted its approach. It shook and it crackled as it struggled to find a voice.

"You don't belong in this realm." Constance told it firmly. "You were summoned here by magic that should never have been released in the first place."

"Feed." The voice came from somewhere within the centre of the entity. It was a deep guttural voice, barely audible.

Constance shook her head slowly.

"There is nothing for you here."

"Feed." The thing repeated and swirled closer towards the frozen parents.

"Stop right there." Constance ordered, the fingers on her hand extending, ready for action.

"Feed."

"Not here and not on these people."

"Feed."

Constance clicked her tongue against her teeth.

"In all your time in this plane is that all you've learnt."

"We need to feed." The thing's voice was louder, more threatening. "We will feed."

"Not here." Constance told the swirling mass of energy in front of her.

"We will feed."

As one, the strands of energy rushed forward and encircled Constance. She stood firm as the multi-coloured strands wound their way around her. She could feel the crackle of raw magic as the strands closed round her. She closed her eyes and concentrated on putting up a barrier to protect herself from the attack that she was certain was about to be launched.

* * *

Mildred banged helplessly on the walls of her protective bubble as she watched the magical energy swirl around HB. Mildred was caught somewhere between horror and fascination as she watched the way that the multi-coloured strands of energy appeared out of the air and seemed to envelop her form teacher. They wound themselves in tight intricate patterns and Mildred could only stand on and watch as her form teacher fought back against their influence.

* * *

The magic crackled and spat as it would itself around her. It was trying to get her to use her magic. It was using everything it had to try to get her to release the spell that she had in place over everyone in the hall. If she were to let the spell end then the entity would have a feeding frenzy. Constance gritted her teeth as she sensed the entity gearing itself up for an attack. It hit her hard and Constance felt as though her head was going to explode. She'd never been one for overstating a situation but on this occasion she truly felt as though she was going to be unable to keep a hold on all the thoughts and images that were speeding through her mind. Images flashed by so rapidly that she was unable to distinguish one before it was replaced with another and then another.

She clasped both of her hands to her head as the assault on her senses increased again. The presence had obviously grown tired of trying to be subtle with its approach and was now launching a concerted effort to put her out of commission.

"Mildred." She forced the words out through gritted teeth; uncertain as to whether she was actually making any sound or not. "You must act quickly."

She let out a gasp of pain as the magic in the air took the opportunity of trying to work its way in through her mouth. Constance knew that if Mildred were to fail then it would only be a matter of minutes before the presence finally won its battle and she was driven into the realms of insanity.

Mildred closed her eyes and balled her hands into fists. She took solace in the feeling of pain as her nails dug into her palms. She racked her brain and tried to remember the words of the spell that she had incanted.

After a few moments, she opened her eyes.

"I can't do it." She reported hopelessly.

"You must." Constance told her. "Use your famed imagination and visualise the page."

Every word Constance spoke gave the spirit the chance to attack her further and she could feel her strength begin to ebb. Her vision swam and she fought hard to retain her grip on the real world.


	19. Chapter 19

_Here we go, another part. Thanks as always for the reviews, they do help motivate me to 'hurry up and finish the next part'. _

* * *

Mildred's mouth was dry and her heart pounded inside her chest as she realised the seriousness of the situation. She closed her eyes again and tried to visualise the book that she had read earlier in the evening. She concentrated and she saw the jet black cover that had been cracked uneven in one corner. She could even remember the way that the book had felt beneath her fingers. She squeezed her eyes shut tighter and she could see herself turning the pages; she remembered the roughness of the yellowing parchment and the colourful illustrations that had accompanied some of the spells. When she tried to zero in on the particular page where the spell had been however, she drew a complete blank. She tried again, but with the same result. There was nothing there. She could see the page but the words on the page seemed to swirl and move and she couldn't make them fix into place.

* * *

The energy swirled and wound its way tighter around the magic wielder in the middle of the hall. It knew that it had to take away the spell that was currently keeping it from getting at the rest of the magic in the room. It harried and fought and tried everything it knew to get the witch to let down her defences. Defeated at the present moment, it looked around for another angle of attack. The witch had called out to someone; the entity searched the room looking for another figure it could use.

It felt understanding form within it, there wasn't enough there to be called a mind yet, but the magic in the walls was feeding it and it felt itself growing with each passing minute. It soaked in every piece of information that it could gain and scoured the room, looking for another avenue of attack.

Information came flooding back to a newly formed central repository and that repository ordered out tendrils to examine the semi-transparent ball of magic that surrounded a figure near the witch.

* * *

Within her bubble, Mildred opened her eyes and looked at the scene in front of her. The world was now nothing more than a mass of swirling magical streams; they ran and twisted themselves around everything and everyone.

She gasped in awe as she watched the swirls of energy begin to blend and twist, forming themselves into a shape that was vaguely human.

The newly formed shape turned in Mildred's direction. There was a recognisable face although it was in a constant state of change; as the energy moved and pulsated, so the face constantly formed and reformed.

Mildred felt her mouth drop open and her eyes widen. She wanted nothing more than to be somewhere else at this present time. This thing, whatever it was, was certainly stronger than she was. She shot a quick glance in the direction of Miss Hardbroom and prayed that at any moment her teacher would rise to her feet and regain control of the situation. One quick glance told her that that scenario was very unlikely. The magical strands of energy had completely enveloped her potions teacher and HB seemed to be weighed down by them and slowly losing the battle to retain control.

She turned her attention back to the shape and let out a gasp of surprise as it seemed to be refining its image before her eyes. Where there had only been a rough approximation of a human shape with a gaping hole for a mouth and burning red coals for eyes, there was now a defined image. She stared wide-eyed as she recognised the unmistakable features of Miss Hardbroom.

"Tell her to stop fighting me." The shape spoke; its voice was low and crackled with magical energy but it was still unmistakably that of her form teacher. Mildred gulped and struggled to find the words to answer back.

"She can't possibly win." The shape continued and its voice crackled loudly as it uttered the word win, streams of blue and silver running across its face.

Mildred shook her head.

"What are you?" She asked; trying to understand what was going on.

The shape crackled again, obviously impatient and not wishing to waste time in what it saw as pointless conversation.

"That is not important." It hissed. "What is important is that you tell this witch to stop fighting me." It floated forward towards Mildred until its face was only a few centimetres away from the protective bubble. "If she doesn't surrender and let me in voluntarily, the outcome for her will be madness."

The thing that had Miss Hardbroom's shape glided away from the bubble and moved back to where HB was now down on her knees and clutching at her head with both hands. "Why does she feel the need to fight?" It asked. "Does she not see that I am not here to cause anyone any pain?"

"Why are you here?" Mildred demanded to know, hoping that her question would draw the thing away from her teacher for a few moments. "What do you want with us?"

The swirling energies seemed to hiss and the thing finally turned back to face her.

"Do you always ask such redundant questions?" It snapped at her.

Mildred nodded her head, not trusting her voice to answer without betraying her fear.

"Oh very well." The shape flowed around Constance a final time before gliding away towards Mildred's protective bubble.

"You summoned me." The shifting form whispered to her. "I felt the magic in the air and I had to come."

"It was a mistake." Mildred tried to explain. "I didn't summon you, and if I did, I certainly didn't mean to. We don't want you here."

"Too late." The thing with HB's face curled its lips into a smile. "I'm here now and I want to feed."

"There's nothing here for you." Mildred protested.

The smile spread further across the thing's face and it slowly shook its head.

"There's plenty here for me." It argued. "It's only her that's keeping me from it."

Streams of twisting colour formed into an arm and pointed in Constance's direction. The thing hissed again and changed and shifted position, briefly losing the form it held before re-establishing its 'Constance' shape again. "If she would only let go then I could feed."

Mildred shook her head.

"Feed?" Mildred wasn't sure that she really understood what the entity was talking about.

"Do you know nothing?" The thing hissed at her impatiently. "Do the teachers in this school really teach so little to their pupils?"

Not receiving an answer the entity floated back towards where HB was still knelt on the ground. "Someone here has let loose the magic that I need to survive. I can taste sweet confusion and deception in the air." A smile formed on the face of the entity. "I need the magic to feed. You need to release the magic."

"We can't do that." She tried to explain. "This magic doesn't belong here."

"But it **is **here." The shape protested. "And I need it."

"Leave us alone." Mildred shouted at it but it simply smiled again and lost its Constance form, twisting and reforming into a multicoloured stream of magic that swooped and swirled and twisted its way around Mildred's protective bubble.

Mildred watched the kaleidoscope of colour as it shimmered and swam before her eyes. She marvelled at the beauty of it. A small voice at the back of her mind told her that nothing this beautiful could possibly cause her harm. Evil things were always dressed in black and had no sense of beauty whatsoever. Evil things were not breathtakingly beautiful, that was one certainty in this world. Mildred watched in wonderment as the magic streams wound their way around her, they were lit up from inside and cast an amazing array of colours onto the walls and ceiling.

'Let me in', a quiet voice in her head beseeched her. 'I won't hurt you', it reassured in gentle tones. 'I only want to share this with you'. Mildred's mouth dropped open as she felt herself being carried away with the sheer beauty of the world around her.

"Mildred Hubble." A pained voice broke into her perfect image and the moment was suddenly lost. The magical strands swirled away from the bubble and reformed immediately around her potions teacher. Where they had been beautiful, graceful swirls of colour, they now became hard, unrelenting, hungry forms, in search of nourishment. They swirled angrily around Constance and Mildred thought that she heard her teacher call out in pain as they tightened their grip upon her.

"We don't have to kill to get what we want." A face formed in the midst of the magical strands; this time it used Mildred's face as a template. "Madness is such a fascinating thing to watch." It continued, seemingly not noticing the effect that its current choice of form was having on its audience. "You can actually feel a person's sanity slip away." The shape buzzed and there was a subtle change in hue of the reds. "This one still wants to fight. Such spirit in such a puny creature."

Mildred struggled to understand what was going on.

"I thought you wanted the magic from the old book?"

The entity hissed and wound itself around Miss Hardbroom again.

"There is magic in this one that we can use. There is magic here that we can feed on."

"Leave her alone." Mildred called out, her voice full of fear.

"We need to feed. If she will not release the magic in the others, then we will take what we can. We have already learnt how to take her form and how to invade her thoughts. It is only a small step to learn how to destroy her."

* * *

Constance closed her eyes as the pressure on her senses seemed to increase again. Without the words to the spell, she wasn't sure if there was going to be any way of stopping the magic.

She felt it now as a presence in her head; it was trying to worm its way into her thoughts.

'Work with me.' It whispered to her. 'You are strong now but with my help you could be invincible. You could be the most powerful witch that ever existed.'

Constance shook her head and tried to dismiss the thought.

"It wouldn't be like that." She forced the words out. "You have no place in this realm. You have no right to claim sanctuary here."

'You could help me.' It whispered. 'You could help me and I could give you anything that you wished in return.'

Constance shook her head, as though that in someway could dislodge the thought.

"Forget it." She hissed.

'Think of what you could achieve with access to all the magic that has ever existed. Imagine how that would feel? Imagine and experience that power.'

The entity drew all its strength together and channelled it through Constance.

Constance let out a breath as she felt the power of the magic; it made every nerve ending tingle and she could feel the raw energy as it raced through her. Images formed unbidden in her mind. She could see herself at the head of a large group of witches; they were all looking up at her with expressions of awe, all hanging on her every single word.

She shook her head and tried to banish the image.

"No-one should have power like that." She growled. "Get out of my head."

'Imagine it though. There wouldn't be anything you couldn't achieve. You have the potential; you just have to accept your destiny.'

The words flowed through Constance's head and there was no way she could stop them. The words kept coming and each word brought with it a new image; a new promise of what she could achieve and become. She wanted to tell it to leave, she wanted to tell it that she wasn't interested but she found that she just didn't have the power to speak.

* * *

Mildred blinked and stared at the surface of the bubble again. She'd initially thought that she'd been mistaken but now she realised with a start that the bubble was indeed beginning to falter. She glanced sideways at HB and realised that it must be her teacher's magic keeping the bubble intact

She looked around at the frozen figures on the floor and realised that she was the last remaining hope for her friends. She closed her eyes and desperately tried to remember the words of the spell that she had used only a few scant hours earlier.

* * *

'Just imagine.' The voice whispered in Constance's head. 'Imagine what you could be, imagine what you could achieve.'

"Get out." Constance clutched her head tighter as if in some way she could force the voice out.

'Think of what you could achieve.' The voice told her again. 'You could be unstoppable.'

Images flashed through Constance's mind again and, despite her best intentions, she began to see the advantages to all the things that the entity was offering. She could be powerful, she could return witchcraft to the art it had once been, she could return them all to the glory days of years gone by…The temptation was there and she wasn't sure if she was going to be able to resist it.

* * *

Mildred was fast coming to the conclusion that there was something wrong with the protective bubble surrounding her; when she looked closely at it she could see cracks appearing across the entire surface. She swallowed nervously, there was now precious little between her and the entity in the hall.

She gasped as a crystal clear image of the black bound magic book appeared before her eyes. She blinked and it immediately disappeared. She felt her eyes widen as she tried to remember exactly what she had seen. It had been the book, she was sure of that. What she wasn't sure was why she had been able to see it.

A loud crackling sound from around her ankles made her glance down. A strand of magic was trying to work its way through one of the ever-growing cracks in the protective spell.

A thought struck Mildred; the others had started to see things as the spell had grown out of control. Mildred closed her eyes and prayed that the image of the book would come before her again. The collapse of the protective bubble might not be such a bad thing after all. She only hoped that the image would make another appearance before either the bubble burst or HB completely lost control.

* * *

"To hold in my hands power over everything. To know everything; to be able to bend anything to my merest whim…." Constance broke off as though unable to fully take on board what the entity was offering.

'Take the world and do with it what you will.' The entity swirled around Constance and whispered softly in her ear. 'Everything is yours for the taking. All we want is the magic in this room… and the magic in the books the young girl mentioned.'

"And that's all you want, is it?" Constance questioned; her tone even.

"Don't do it Miss." Mildred's voice broke into the silence, she couldn't make out what the entity was saying but she had to try to break whatever hold it had managed to gain. The entity crackled angrily and bright red tendrils of energy shot out and surrounded the failing bubble.

Mildred glanced nervously at the failing protection spell.

"You can't give in Miss, it won't be like that. You can't trust them… you…." Mildred tailed off as her view was completely obscured by the swirling mass of energy.

'She can't hear you, you know.' A voice spoke inside her head and Mildred shook her head as though she could clear it.

"Stop that." She yelled; her voice equal parts anger and fear. "Leave her alone."

"You can't stop me." The energy swirled round the bubble again before drifting off and reforming its Constance shape. "We are in her mind now; we can make her do whatever we want." There was a crackle of energy as the shape formed itself a hand, moving its forefinger and thumb until they were only millimetres apart.

"That's how close your teacher is to madness right now; we are in her head, we are in the very air that she breathes, we will take what we want and we will have all the magic that is to be had."

Mildred felt the prick of tears at the back of her mind and fought hard to prevent them from showing themselves. Now wasn't the time for falling apart, now wasn't the time to show weakness. But if she was honest, she wasn't sure exactly what it was she could do.

She gasped as an image of impeccable clarity appeared before her eyes. She could see the book open in front of her and she could feel the roughness of the parchment beneath her fingers. Where there had been words swimming in a kind of pattern before, there was now a perfect vision of the spell in front of her. Mildred read the spell as quickly as she could, convinced that it would disappear without warning at any second.

She opened her eyes, certain that the spell was now burnt into her memory. Her eyes fell immediately upon the still form of HB. Where she had been arguing and appearing to fight back against the entity, she now appeared an oasis of calm. Whilst it had been distressing to see her teacher involved in such a struggle, she had at least been certain that HB was maintaining a fight against the entity. To see her standing so still, so calm was unsettling.

"We have her now." The entity hissed at Mildred, swirling around her bubble, its Constance shape taking on even more definition than it had before. "Her puny attempt at defiance is over."

Mildred wanted to deny what the entity was saying but as she looked closer at her form teacher, her heart began to sink. There was something different about her bearing, something different in the way that she now held herself.

"You're lying." Mildred shouted at the form that whirled and danced around the bubble.

"You want a demonstration?" It barked. "You want to see for yourself the puppet that your teacher has become?"

Mildred wanted to tell the entity that it didn't know what it was talking about, but as she stood there, she watched in horror as it swooped towards her teacher and ordered her to move forwards.

Mildred watched as HB approached the bubble, her head was downcast and her movements were slow and jerky. Mildred sought a way to explain what was happening but she found that she couldn't.

"Tell the girl who you serve." The entity whispered. "Tell the girl what she should do."

Mildred was frozen to the spot as she watched her teacher slowly raise her head. Her eyes opened and Mildred gasped as she realised that HB's eyes were completely black; where the whites of her eyes should have been there was nothing but an impenetrable blackness.

"Miss?" Mildred's voice was cracked, not believing what she was seeing.

"Give up your fight." HB's voice was flat and emotionless. "There can be only one winner here and it's pointless to fight against it. I tried... and I failed."


	20. Chapter 20

_Well here we go; we've reached the final two parts. I was beginning to think that I wasn't going to get here. Despite my promises to make it shorter than the last story, it ended up a little longer. Sorry about that. This is the penultimate part and the final part should be up in a little while._

_I've had a really enjoyable time writing it and I'd like to thank everyone that took the time to review; don't underestimate the appreciation I have for that._

_For those that have read but not reviewed, I hope that you enjoyed the journey._

* * *

_Till the next time…_

Mildred shook her head, trying to deny the sight that was before her eyes. She refused to believe that HB had given in to the entity, refused to believe that anything could have gotten the better of her teacher.

"No one is immune to the power of suggestion." The entity told her, changing shape again and giving itself a mirror image of Mildred. "There are times when a spirit simply has to realise that it is beaten and acknowledge a greater power."

Mildred wanted to block out the words that were filling the air; refusing to believe that the entity had defeated HB.

"Look at me Mildred." A voice told her flatly.

Mildred froze and then screwed her eyes tighter; she knew that the voice belonged to Miss Hardbroom, not the entity. She didn't want to look, didn't want to see HB looking like that.

"Mildred Hubble, do as you are told."

Despite herself, Mildred raised her eyes and met her teacher's gaze. She had been hoping against all hope to see the familiar piercing gaze glaring back at her. Her heart sank as she came face to face with the opaque black eyes that stared sightlessly at her.

Mildred felt tears prick the back of her eyes again. HB had failed; HB had failed and so what chance did she stand against the entity?

She jumped as an image of the spell in the book flashed before her eyes again. She felt frustration well inside of her; why hadn't the spell come back to her when it had still been possible for HB to do something? Now the spell was nothing more than a taunting reminder of how the opportunity to do anything had slipped away.

"Listen to your form teacher." The entity told her in a soothing voice. "Listen to the voice of your teacher and accept your destiny."

Mildred shook her head. She was not going to give in; she was determined not to let the entity win without a fight. She swallowed nervously, but just what could she do against something that had managed to take over HB?

Mildred closed her eyes and tried to concentrate all her energies on remembering the most powerful and destructive spell she could think of. Miss Cackle's saying ran through her head, reminding her that the intention and the feeling behind a spell were sometimes more important than the words. She crossed her fingers and hoped that Miss Cackle's words were really true when it came to casting major spells.

"What do you think you are doing?" There was amusement plain in the entity's voice.

"Do you really think that anything your pathetic little mind could construct could defeat me?"

"I don't see you taking control of the people in the room." Mildred snapped back with more bravado than she really felt.

The entity hissed at her and Mildred swallowed nervously, thinking that perhaps it wasn't really a good idea to wind the thing up.

"It is only a matter of time. I **will** have full control and I **will** take every ounce of magic from this room." As if to show that it had attained new strength, the entity, split itself into two forms. Mildred heard a gasp from HB as it tore magic from her to complete the action.

"You don't have full control yet." She muttered under her breath, hoping against all hope that there was something of HB left inside. If she could cast a spell that would damage the entity even slightly, then it might be possible for her teacher to find a way to fight back. Mildred knew that it was a slim hope, but she had to cling onto something.

Mildred's mind raced through all the spells she had been taught during her time at Cackles and she frowned as she realised that most of them had something to do with moving objects or transforming one inanimate object into another inanimate object. The exception to that rule was the basic animal transformation spell and she somehow doubted that the powerful magical entity was going to stand there patiently and wait for her to try to turn it into a frog or a hat stand.

She racked her brains and tried to think back to the secret gatherings they'd had in the library; Fenny and Gris had tried to scare them all with tales of spells and potions that did unspeakable things to unsuspecting witches. She sighed and wished that she'd paid more attention to their gruesome tales.

Just as she was beginning to give up hope, she was struck by a thought. At the end of the previous term, Miss Cackle had let the class come up with their own spells and Ethel had managed to make lightening shoot out of her fingers. The 'oohs' and 'aahhs' of awe had quickly turned to screams of fear as the lightening bolts had proceeded to ricochet around the room and set fire to anything they came into contact with. Mildred realised that what she really needed now was something like that spell. Ethel had, of course, shown off about what she was going to do and Mildred was certain that if she concentrated enough, she could remember the words that her classmate had used.

She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate, but there was something on the edge of her thoughts that was distracting her, something that she couldn't describe. She scrunched her eyes tighter and tried to work out if it was the entity finally gaining a foothold in her mind.

There seemed to be a faint voice at the very edge of her hearing; something ghosting into her mind. Mildred felt a shiver of fear run down her spine. If this was the entity making its first foray into her mind, then time was indeed in short supply. She had to act fast, she had to think of something, she had to do something before all was lost and the occupants of the hall became nothing more than a meal for the entity.

'Oh for heaven's sake Mildred relax; it's me.' The voice told her, it's tone suddenly louder and sounding very impatient. Mildred's eyes snapped open in surprise. There was only one person that phrase and tone of voice could possibly belong to. She glanced quickly towards Miss Hardbroom to confirm her suspicions. HB however was standing motionless and showing no signs of regaining her strength.

"What are you doing…" 'in my head?' Mildred finished the sentence mentally, realising that the entity would be able to hear her and work out what was going on if she continued to speak.

'If you are quick, then I am here to help.' HB's told her, the voice fading in and out, as she spoke. 'I don't have time to waste in idle chatter. Clear your mind Mildred.'

Mildred did her best to comply, well aware that her head was full of questions as to how HB's voice could be in her head. She fought back the thought as soon as it entered her

head, it wouldn't do her any favours to call HB, HB to her…. She paused again and tried to work out exactly what the interface was.

'Mildred, there really isn't the time for this.' A pained voice told her. 'Concentrate on the spell you cast earlier this evening if you can't clear your thoughts.'

Mildred tried desperately to settle her thoughts onto the spell. As soon as she started to form the words in her head, she felt a surge of energy come from somewhere. The feeling was exhilarating and she felt as though magic was going to spark out of every finger.

A thought occurred to Mildred.

"So you're not…."

"Not now Mildred." The words were halting and Mildred duly blanked the thought from her mind.

"Ahh." There was a feeling of understanding and then moments later words formed on the tip of Mildred's tongue. She didn't understand where they had come from, or what they meant; she just knew that she had to recite them. She was also left with an intense feeling of frustration and world-weariness, she just wasn't sure exactly where that had come from or what purpose it was supposed to serve.

She took a deep breath and began to utter the words with as much conviction as she could manage; she knew that the future of the school might well depend on her getting the spell right.

The thing that had Miss Hardbroom's face immediately snapped round to face her, its face twisting and losing form as the words of the spell flowed from Mildred's mouth. The shape merged back into one and floated towards her.

"No." It hissed at her, somehow understanding what she was trying to do, anger causing sparks of energy to fly out and crackle in the air. "No."

Mildred fought the urge to duck as a bolt of energy was launched at the bubble; she closed her eyes and kept her concentration focused on reciting the spell.

"How?"

Mildred felt her heart sank as the entity questioned where her knowledge had come from. She forced her eyes open and her worst fears were realised. The entity had homed in on HB and strands of pure energy were once again twisting and whirling around her teacher like a swarm of angry bees.

She held on to the link with HB as tightly as she could; she needed to complete the spell, needed to finish the incantation or all would be lost.

'Hang on Miss,' She called out mentally, not certain if her voice would be heard or not.

'Concentrate on the…' The words that floated back were faint in Mildred's mind and faded entirely before the sentence was completed.

There was silence in Mildred's mind but to her it seemed deafening.

'Miss.' she called out tentatively. 'Miss?'

She strained, trying to hear Miss Hardbroom's voice but there was nothing but the sound of her own heart thumping hard against her chest.

She swallowed, trying not to think of what might have happened. If HB couldn't stand against the entity, what chance did she have?

Mildred felt the panic that was rising up within her and fought against it; she wasn't going to be any use to anyone if she lost it now. She remembered the piercing glare that HB had shot in her direction the time she had lost concentration during a teleporting spell and caused 3 flowerpots to smash down onto the stone floors of the potions lab. She remembered that look and concentrated on it.

The words of the reversing spell were still there in the forefront of her mind. She crossed her fingers for luck, and then hastily uncrossed them as she remembered what had happened earlier.

The words of the spell began to fall hesitantly from her mouth.

* * *

"No." The entity hissed again as it felt something stir in the air. It turned its attention to the tall witch in the centre of the room; it was certain that in some way the witch was still at the centre of what was going on. There was more than a little magic at the beck and call of this particular witch, and so it lashed out; determined that the spell caster wasn't going to be of any more help to the young witch. She had somehow shaken off its control over her once, the entity was determined that that wasn't going to happen again.

* * *

Mildred faltered, as the words seemed to disappear from her mind. She wasn't sure exactly what had happened but it felt as though some of the strength she had previously felt had vanished. She concentrated harder and tried to get the spell back on track.

* * *

The entity pushed against the protective bubble surrounding the young girl. It still held firm; that was a situation that it had to rectify. First, there was the older witch to deal with. Her spells were still active; the people in the hall were still frozen and it sensed that there was still some semblance of resistance in the air. The entity swarmed again and prepared itself to feed on the magic.

* * *

Mildred tried to ignore the tendrils of energy that were still curling their way around Miss Hardbroom and concentrated all her energies on the spell. As before, the words began to fall from her mouth. She began hesitantly but then the words fell faster and faster until she was unsure as to where one word ended and the next began.

* * *

The entity geared itself up for another assault upon the tall witch. It sensed that it was making headway and it would only be a scant few minutes before it had complete access to all of her magic. As it gathered its strength, it again felt a shift in the air; an indescribable something that told it magic was about to be unleashed; magic that could stop it, magic that could damage it.

Distracted from its attack on the potions teacher, it turned its attention to the young witch in the bubble. It had to stop her from completing the incantation; it had to stop her from ending its stay in the world. It came to a snap decision. There was one thing it could do, one thing that would surely stay the actions of the young spell caster.

"I want to survive." The entity told Mildred with a voice that was unmistakably that of her potions teacher. Mildred paused in the midst of her spell, unsure as to whether or not it was safe to continue. The figure in front of her swirled and moved around the bubble.

"If you complete the spell you won't only destroy me, you will also destroy what's left of her." An arm formed itself from the shape and pointed in Constance's direction.

Mildred shook her head, not wanting to believe what she was hearing.

"We are one now." The thing with HB's voice continued. "Inseparable, linked forever through our magic. You cannot get rid of one without destroying the other." It swirled around the failing bubble, seemingly realising that its words were having the desired effect. "Do you want her blood on your hands? Do you want to cast her forever into the abyss of insanity?"

Mildred faltered briefly, as the words of the entity flowed into her mind.

"Shut up!" She shouted at the thing that had Miss Hardbroom's face, and clasped her hands over her ears, in an attempt to silence the words that she was hearing. "Shut up!"

She didn't want to believe what the thing was saying but there was now a nagging doubt forming in the pit of her stomach. What if the thing was speaking the truth? What if completing the spell would indeed cast her teacher into the realm of madness.

She risked a glance past the shimmering shape and caught sight of HB. Her teacher's hands were now clasped to the side of her head, her eyes flitting between pure black and normal, as the entity demonstrated the hold that it now had over her.

Mildred frowned and stared closely at Miss Hardbroom. She swore that she could see her lips moving. She blinked and then stared again, a slight surge of hope running through her. HB was indeed still in the land of the living and was attempting to chant something.

Mildred looked towards the wall of her protective bubble, realisation striking her that it was only HB's magic keeping it in place. She swallowed and reached a decision. She had to risk completing the spell. She had to get rid of the swirling energy once and for all.

Raising her hands and steadying herself, Mildred resumed the recitation of the spell.

The words fell from her mouth faster than she thought possible. She wasn't sure where the emphasis was supposed to be placed and she wasn't sure that she understood what some of the words meant but she knew that she had to keep going.

"No!" The entity cried out in anguish as it realised that Mildred was about to complete the incantation. "Don't send me back into the void." It cried out, still using Miss Hardbroom's voice.

Mildred was more than a little unsettled to hear such fear in HB's tone. She truly believed that her potions teacher was fearless.

Taking a deep breath and trying to banish the sound of the pleading voice from her mind, she started the spell again.

The coloured streams of magic twisted and wound themselves tightly around Constance and the bubble as they sought some way of remaining in their present form.

Mildred hesitated as she saw the way that they were attacking her teacher. Miss Hardbroom had now sunk to her knees and it looked as though she was finding it hard to draw breath.

'Keep going Mildred,' a faint voice whispered in her mind, and she did her best to concentrate on the spell, reassured by the returning presence of her teacher.

"No." The entity pleaded with her now. "Don't send me back. Don't send me back into the void."

It fought to retain its Constance shape but the words of the spell were beginning to have an effect. It flickered and seemed to lose definition. It locked its eyes onto Mildred and held out a hand. "Don't do this to me I beg you; you can't possibly know what it must be like to exist in limbo, to be neither alive or dead, to exist but be unable to move, unable to communicate."

Mildred tried to shut out the pitiful pleas that the entity was now making. She felt a twinge of pity for it but tried to banish the feeling. There was no way that she could allow it to continue to exist. It needed to feed to survive and to do that it would take the magic from all those in the room. She couldn't let it do that to her friends.

"I won't take your friends." The entity's voice cracked with fear. "I only need your teacher. I'll only take her."

Mildred shook her head and continued with the spell, clamping her hands over her ears so that she didn't have to listen to its pleas.

In the middle of the hall, something was happening. Mildred's mouth dropped open in awe as a ball of burning white light formed, the words of the spell drying in her mouth.

The entity turned to face the burning sphere and then whirled back to face Mildred.

"No." It screamed at her. "I'm not going back."

As Mildred watched, she could see it start to lose definition. The detail in the face was the first thing to go. The eyes blurred into burning coals, the mouth became nothing more than a jagged gash.

"Help me." It called out in desperation. "Help me."

Mildred could only watch helplessly as one by one the streams of energy were dragged towards the centre of the hall and seemed to disappear into a glowing white ball of flame that had formed in the centre. Their disappearance was accompanied by a shrill series of screams as the energy attempted to escape its fate.

In its desperation, the entity lashed out at its surroundings. Mildred watched as it launched magical streams at the walls and furniture within the room. She glanced towards Miss Hardbroom and was disturbed by the way that tendrils of magic were still tightly wound around her, desperately trying to cling to a source of magic. Mildred had been hoping that the spell would bring HB back to normal but she was still showing no signs of being back in control of herself.

Streams of magic lashed against the side of the bubble and Mildred jumped, scared that they would find a way into the failing structure. The power of the spell was too much for them though and they were slowly sucked towards the blinding ball of light that was growing larger and larger with every stream of magic that fed it.

A piercing scream filled the hall and Mildred felt the blood freeze in her veins; there was only one possible place that the scream had come from. Mildred didn't want to think about what that scream might mean but thoughts crashed through her head. What if the spell had done exactly what the entity had threatened, what if it really did have the power to take Miss Hardbroom's sanity, what if her actions had just reduced HB to nothing more than an empty shell?

She tried to push that thought from her head as she watched the streams of magic as they were drawn inexorably towards the blinding ball of pure white light that was steadily growing in the centre of the hall. As it grew, Mildred found that she had to raise one hand to block out the brilliant white light that threatened to blind her. She felt the temperature in the room rise as the energy in the ball radiated outwards.

Finally, the last stream of magic was unwound from Miss Hardbroom and dragged into the ball. Mildred looked fearfully at the glowing sphere and wondered exactly what was going to happen to it.

As the last red stream of energy was sucked into it, it appeared to fold in on itself. It shrank to half its size and then expanded at a rapid rate until it filled the hall. As it touched the walls of the Great Hall, it appeared to explode, sending brightly coloured rays of magic flying around the room; the molten streams setting fire to the bunting that was slung between the high windows.

As the magic shot across the room, Mildred automatically ducked for cover. She closed her eyes and waited for the moment where the burning streams of magic would strike her.

After a few moments, she cautiously raised her head. Much to her great surprise, there was no evidence of the magic. It had, to all intents and purposes, vanished.

Mildred's mouth dropped open in disbelief. She couldn't understand where all the energy had gone. As she shook her head, trying to understand what had just happened, the bubble seemed to disintegrate around her. It flickered slightly and then just faded away into nothingness.

Mildred's attention snapped to where she had last seen HB; she had to find out exactly what had happened to her form teacher.

She let out a gasp as she saw the pall of smoke that surrounded HB. White wisps of smoke curled and wound their way from her towards the ceiling of the hall.

Her attention was momentarily distracted as she realised that the spell that Miss Hardbroom had cast on the crowd in the hall had also now ended. The air was suddenly full of the chatter of confused voices, each person realising that something had happened but not one of them realising exactly what it was. After a few seconds, there was a sudden lull in the noise, followed by a hundred people making polite excuses, and a stampede as they all ran in the direction of the main door. Mildred scratched her head, trying to work out where they could all be going in such a hurry.

Shrugging her shoulders, she turned her attention back to Miss Hardbroom. Her form teacher was still down on her knees and showing no sign of rising to her feet, the smoke still billowing out around her. Mildred edged cautiously towards her and then stopped.

"Are you alright Miss?" She asked tentatively, not certain that she'd be able to cope with an answer that wasn't in the positive.


	21. Chapter 21

There was a long pause and Mildred felt her heart pound a little bit faster. HB had not moved; she was still kneeling motionless in the middle of the now abandoned hall, clouds of white smoke spiralling out from her and whirling towards the heavens.

"Miss?" Mildred edged another pace closer. "Are you alright?"

Slowly, Constance raised her head, her eyes opening, blinking against the light in the room. Mildred was certain that she caught sight of pure black before the familiar bright brown eyes locked onto hers.

"Thank you Mildred." Constance kept her voice as calm as she could, not wanting her young pupil to realise just how close to losing control she had been.

"Are you…?" Mildred took another few hesitant steps towards HB, her relief tempered by her fear of the potions teacher.

"I'm fine." Constance snapped, not wanting to be questioned by Mildred. She watched as the young girl's head dropped slightly. "I'm fine…Thank you Mildred." She amended, reminding herself that her young pupil had been responsible for her own survival. She took a deep breath and prepared to test out her shaking limbs.

"What was that… thing Miss?" The words fell from Mildred's lips, she was eager to get some explanation for what had just happened.

Constance felt the world swim before her eyes and she sank back down to the ground again. She tried to take a steadying breath and assess her situation.

"Do you need a hand?"

Constance closed her eyes tightly and prayed that the world would stop spinning soon. After a few moments, she opened her eyes again and attempted to raise her head to meet Mildred's gaze. A wave of nausea washed over her and she had to swallow hard to prevent a display that she was determined no pupil would ever witness.

"A few moments Mildred." She finally hissed through clenched teeth.

Mildred stood awkwardly a few paces away from Miss Hardbroom and hoped that it wouldn't take her teacher long to regain her strength. There was something very un-nerving about seeing HB in such a state. Mildred let out a sigh of relief as she saw Miss Cackle begin to regain her senses. In all the panic, Mildred hadn't stopped to question why her headmistress had remained frozen whilst the rest of the occupants of the hall had returned to normal. That question was now at the forefront of her mind, but she doubted that she was likely to get an answer any time soon.

Amelia blinked furiously and tried to work out what was going on. The first thing she noticed was the near empty hall.

"Where is…"

Mildred pointed helplessly towards the doors.

"They all went that way… They seemed to be in something of a hurry."

"Ahh." Amelia muttered quietly and made a mental note to herself to check whether any of the parents were plumbers, she had the feeling that they were going to need one very very soon.

She looked around in disbelief at the burnt strands of bunting that now hung forlornly from the rafters. Something major had happened, that was obvious. A slight groan drew Amelia's attention to her left where she immediately noticed the uncharacteristic pose of her deputy.

"Constance!"

Constance groaned again as she heard the concerned tones of Amelia Cackle. If there was one thing in world that she hated more than anything - and she had to admit to herself that the list was fairly extensive - it was being the centre of attention. She waved away the hand that appeared on the periphery of her vision, offering to help her up.

"I will be fine thank you Amelia." She informed Miss Cackle with as much patience as she could muster.

Miss Cackle exchanged a look with Mildred. Although she had the very definite feeling that she'd missed out on something, Amelia wasn't sure that she liked the way that Constance was trying to gloss over her current state.

Amelia waved a hand in the air.

"Should I be concerned about the fact that you appear to be smoking?"

Constance clicked her tongue against her teeth and Amelia took that for a no.

"And the fact that you look as white as a sheet?"

Constance sighed at this.

Amelia struggled for something else to say.

"Well, will you at least let me help you up?"

Constance sighed heavily, and with a certain amount of reluctance, allowed Miss Cackle to help her to her feet.

She brushed away Amelia's hand as soon as she could and set about removing invisible specks of dirt from her pristine black dress.

"Should I ask about what exactly happened?" Amelia's voice was now more hopeful than expectant. "Will I want to know?"

Constance raised her head and, ignoring Miss Cackle, glared at Mildred.

"I think you and I need to have a serious talk sometime very soon about the casting of forbidden spells." Constance told her sternly. She watched as her pupil's shoulders sagged.

"And I think you and I Constance, need to have a talk sometime soon about the storing of forbidden volumes within academy walls." Amelia informed her deputy.

Constance sighed heavily, realising that Miss Cackle was about to suggest that she should let Mildred off the hook.

"This is a serious matter Miss Cackle." She protested.

"I couldn't agree more." Came the reply. "I would like that chat with you before the end of the night."

Constance met Miss Cackle's gaze and knew that it was going to be pointless pursuing the matter any further. She tutted and returned her attention to picking at the invisible specks of dirt.

"Miss?"

"I can see you hovering there like a nervous bat." Constance snapped at Mildred. "What is it that you want? A pat on the back perhaps for very nearly bringing about the end of the world?"

Mildred gulped. HB wasn't renowned for a tendency to exaggerate.

"Sorry." She apologised meekly, realising immediately just how pathetic the apology sounded.

"Well I suppose that's something."

"That thing Miss…!" Mildred wasn't sure how to broach the next part of the subject. "What did it do?"

Constance paused in mid-pluck and Mildred swallowed nervously.

"The entity was summoned here by the magic in the spell you cast."

"I understand that Miss." Mildred was keen to gloss over the fact that it was her fault the entity was summoned in the first place. "But why did it need the magic?"

"We all need food to survive Mildred. Entities like that feed on magic; feed and grow by taking all the magic that they can find."

Mildred frowned.

"Then why hasn't the school been attacked before?"

"Because magical entities are only attracted to the most powerful of magic; magic that can affect and alter perception is very dangerous to play with." Constance glared at Mildred, making sure that her point was being understood. "It's very much the dark side of the art."

"It's black magic?" Mildred gasped.

Constance sighed heavily.

"Black Magic is brand of confectionary Mildred, one that will do nothing but make your teeth rot. There is no such thing as black magic. There is magic that can be used for destructive ends, a kind of dark magic if you like; magic that can dramatically alter the world around it." Constance paused and glared at Mildred. "It is most definitely something that a novice witch should not play about with."

"Sorry." Mildred apologised again.

"Magical entities traditionally exist in another plane, the same plane that dark magic uses. By using the magic in that book, you gave it a bridge to this world."

Mildred closed her eyes and tried to take in everything that HB was saying. She really wasn't sure that she understood it fully, but she was determined never to mess about with any of HB's books again.

Amelia had been listening to the exchange with a great deal of interest, hoping that something would give her the answer as to what she had missed. She sighed to herself, if anything she was more confused now than she had been before. She looked at her deputy and noticed, for the first time, the dark lines that were beneath her eyes; she also took in the way that Constance seemed to be shaking gently.

"Perhaps we should save the explanations for another time." She suggested.

Constance took a deep breath.

"Perhaps you are right. Perhaps it would be politic to get everyone out of the school as soon as possible. There is still a lot of magic in the air and one miscast spell could result in mayhem."

"A good idea." Amelia agreed. She had been wondering exactly what they were going to say to the parents. She had held the evening because she wanted to cut down on the number of complaints that the school received. She wondered just how many letters she was going to receive after the parents had returned home and had time to think back over the events of the evening,

* * *

The doors to the Great Hall opened and parents began filing slowly back in. Amelia frowned as she read the confusion that was in their eyes. None of the fathers seemed to want to make eye contact with her and she wondered just how much of the evening's activities they could recall. 

She smiled in relief as Imogen made her way towards her.

"Are you ok?" She inquired of the P.E teacher.

Imogen nodded slowly.

"I think so." She paused, her eyes widening in surprise as she saw a pale wisp of smoke appear to rise from Constance's shoulder. "Should I ask about what's been going on this evening?"

Amelia took one of Imogen's hands within her own.

"Everything will be explained later, what I really need now is for you to help me get everyone out of here and on their way home."

Imogen's eyes remained locked on Constance as she was led away; trying to work out if she had really seen smoke issuing from the potions teacher.

* * *

Constance winced and raised a hand to the side of her head. The magical entity had left her with something of a pounding headache. She had the feeling that it was going to be several hours before it would begin to recede. 

"Are you alright Miss?"

Constance frowned.

"Mildred, shouldn't you be looking for your parents?"

"I'm sure Maud will look after them." Mildred told her.

Constance sighed; she knew that Mildred was unlikely to leave her alone until she had asked the questions that were burning away at the back of her mind.

"Very well Mildred. What is it that you want to know?"

Mildred's mind raced as she tried to prioritise the questions.

"What did that entity do?"

"I thought I…"

"No Miss." Mildred interrupted. "What did it do to you?"

"Nothing that need concern you." Constance replied more impatiently than she intended.

"I saw your eyes." Mildred spoke quietly. "I saw the blackness."

Constance suppressed a shiver at Mildred's words.

"It did nothing." She told her young pupil firmly. "It's gone now and that's all that matters."

She saw the doubt on Mildred's face but noted with relief that she didn't question the response.

"You acted bravely this evening." She commended Mildred. "It took a lot of courage to stand against the entity in the way that you did."

Mildred blushed; she was unused to hearing compliments from HB.

"I couldn't have done it without that protective bubble." She admitted.

Constance 'Hmmed' quietly.

"And I suppose that you did try and make amends for your earlier folly." She finally admitted. She looked down at Mildred and took in the expression on her pupil's face.

"You ever do anything like this again Mildred Hubble and I can assure you that saving the school and the people within will not prevent you from being expelled."

"Miss?" Mildred's voice was hopeful.

"I've decided on the punishment for your actions this evening." Constance told her firmly. "You will write out 1000 times, in your best hand 'I will not seek to break into private property and try and use spell books I do not understand'." She glared at Mildred. "I'd also like a 3000 word essay on the perils of releasing magical entities into places where they do not belong."

A smile spread slowly across Mildred's face.

"You're not going to have me expelled?"

Constance raised an eyebrow.

"You unleash magical entities on these premises again and I promise you that you will be out of here so fast, your feet won't touch the ground."

Mildred shook her head.

"I won't do it again." She promised.

"Well I'm glad we've established that." Constance winced again as another spike of pain hit just above her left eye. "Now if you wouldn't mind Mildred…."

"Sorry Miss." Mildred apologised.

Mildred watched as HB walked slightly unsteadily across the Great Hall. Her mind was racing, trying to understand everything that had happened during the last few hours. She had unwittingly cast a spell that had attracted a magical entity to the school. The entity had nearly taken over everyone and without Miss Hardbroom's help, Mildred dreaded to think of what might have happened.

She swallowed nervously and wondered just what exactly she was going to say to her parents.

* * *

Imogen paused in her mission to clear the hall of parents as she spotted Constance heading her way. She quickly excused herself from Griselda Blackwood's parents and moved to stand in front of Constance, forcing her colleague to stop. 

"I don't pretend to understand what happened this evening and I don't expect that I will ever get a sensible explanation from you about it, but I have to put on record that I saw a few things that didn't make sense."

"Such as?" Constance's voice was tired.

Imogen scratched the side of her head.

"I kept seeing images of myself looking through a file." She noticed the way that Constance stiffened at the sentence. "I don't understand it though. If I didn't actually look at your file from the WTC, how come I saw the pages as clear as day?"

Constance tried her best to look nonchalant.

"It was most probably the effects of the magic in the air; it just showed you what it thought you wanted to see. None of it was real."

Imogen shook her head.

"But it was just so clear; I could almost feel the paper between my fingers." Imogen furrowed her brow. "Are you sure that I didn't look at that file?"

"As far as I am aware, I arrived in time to stop you." Constance's tone was cold.

"But…" Imogen wanted to push the point further but she watched as her normally stiff-backed colleague winced and raised a hand to her head. As she looked, she realised just how tired and washed out Constance looked "Are you alright?" She asked, concern plain in her tone.

"What?" Constance snapped in return.

"Are you ok?"

"Don't fuss." Constance swiped away the hand that was hovering at her side. "You're as bad as Amelia. I am not dying, it's just been something of a trying evening and I require a little time to recuperate."

Imogen decided that it was probably best to just leave her colleague alone at the present time. She made her excuses and left in search of Davina.

Constance watched her go. With everything that had happened during the last couple of hours, she had forgotten all about the business with the file from the WTC. She cricked her neck; it seemed that there were still some loose ends to tie up. A wave of tiredness washed over her and Constance decided that perhaps the loose ends could wait for a little while. She took one look at the sea of confused parents and decided that, for once, someone else could take care of everything. She closed her eyes and concentrated on her own apartments within the school.

* * *

Thomas Nightshade's mouth dropped open in amazement as the tall witch disappeared into nothingness. He grabbed hold of his mother's hand and pulled her firmly towards the exit. He'd had enough of witches and magic to last him a lifetime. 

Enid turned her head as she heard her mother calling for her to leave. She acknowledged her mother with a quick wave of her hand and then turned back to face her friends.

She'd been trying to remember what had happened but everything in her mind seemed foggy.

"And how exactly did we get those blankets on our heads?" Maud wanted to know.

Jadu grinned.

"It was all a bit extreme."

Ruby shook her head.

"We're all going to be in so much trouble as soon as HB tells Cackle what's happened."

"HB's not going to say anything."

The small group turned as they heard Mildred's voice.

"Where have you been?" Maud asked, delighted to see that her friend had survived the evening unscathed.

"You wouldn't believe what happened if I told you."

Enid smiled at her friend and gave her a quick hug.

"Explanations will have to wait." She told Mildred. "My parents want to go and I get the feeling that I'm going to be grounded for the whole of half-term when Thomas tells them all about that toad business." She scratched her head. "I still don't quite believe that I did that….I did do that, didn't I?"

Mildred nodded.

"You did that. Perhaps you'll be able to convince your parents that your brother imagined it though."

Enid's face lit up into a smile.

"You might have something there." She told her friend. She made her goodbyes to the others and headed off to join her parents.

Jadu looked around.

"I guess I'd better go and find my parents as well. My mother's going to be worried that everyone thinks she's nuts after that business with the coats."

The three remaining friends wished Jadu well and watched her head off in search of her parents.

"Who are you going home with?" Mildred asked Ruby.

Ruby's eyes widened in fear.

"I hadn't thought about that." She confessed. "And what if they've met since…well since everything returned to normal?"

Maud tapped her friend on the arm and then pointed across the hall.

"I'd say that you had some explaining to do."

"Oh no." Ruby looked on horrified as both her parents headed towards them.

"Perhaps we should go?" Maud suggested but Ruby grabbed onto her hand tightly.

"You can't leave me." She pleaded.

* * *

Imogen scanned the hall until she spotted Davina. The chanting teacher was standing next to the piano and complaining vocally about the footprints that were all over the lid and top of the small upright. 

She crossed to the end of the hall and tapped Davina on the shoulder.

"I need to have a quiet word with you."

Davina looked nervously around.

"What is it? Do you know where the footprints came from?" She wiped frantically at the marks, muttering beneath her breath about the manners of certain parents.

Imogen interrupted her impatiently.

"Is there such a thing as a memory erase spell?" She waited for a few moments before trying to laugh off her fears. "Forget I said anything." She laughed nervously. "Constance is probably right. I was just imagining things."

"Imagining things?" Davina's face was suddenly a picture of interest.

Imogen pulled a face.

"When the magic started… getting out of hand this evening I saw images. I saw images as clearly as I can see you now. I saw myself sitting in my room looking at pages in a file. I remembered the feel of the parchment in my hand." She shook her head at the clarity of the memory. "It was Constance's file from the WTC. I know that I saw that file. I know I looked at the contents of it."

"But you can't remember any other details?"

Imogen shrugged her shoulders.

"The rest of it is a complete blank. I remember you leaving the room and then Constance arriving at the door. There is nothing to fill the space in-between."

Davina opened her mouth to try and reassure her colleague that a little slip of the memory wasn't anything to worry about when she realised that Imogen was shaking her head.

"What is it?"

"When you left the room I was standing with the file in my hand but when Constance appeared in the doorway I was sitting down. I don't remember moving across the room…." She shook her head again as another thought struck her. "And I'm sure that the bow on the file looked different."

Davina regarded Imogen closely.

"You've got to be certain about what you're saying." She warned her colleague. "Accusing a witch of casting a memory erase spell is a pretty major thing."

Imogen looked helplessly at Davina.

"So there is such a thing?"

"Of course there is." Davina told her shortly and then paused as she thought on the matter. "Well I think there is, I can't really remember."

Imogen tried her best to ignore the ramblings of her colleague.

"I know that what I saw in those moments this evening was real. I can't explain how I know but I DO know." She met Davina's gaze. "Constance has done something to stop me remembering what I've seen."

"But that's against practically every rule of the Witches Code." Davina's head was bobbing with unease. "I can't imagine that Constance, of all people would do that."

Imogen thought back over her earlier conversation with the chanting teacher.

"You said yourself that you were in the corridor and that you didn't see her. What if you didn't see her because she wasn't there until after you'd left and after I'd looked at her file?"

Davina was at a complete loss for words. She opened her mouth to say something but then promptly shut it again.

"I'm going to have to do something about this." Imogen decided. "But I don't think that now is the best time. First thing tomorrow I'm going to have a word with Constance. If she doesn't level with me then I'm going to take the matter to Miss Cackle."

Davina watched as Imogen strode purposefully from the room. She shook her head nervously. There was trouble ahead and she wasn't certain that she wanted any part of it. Never had the stationary cupboard seemed more inviting.

* * *

"Mum. Dad." Ruby tried to keep the quaver out of her voice as both her parents came to a halt in front of her. "I can explain." 

Ruby's father frowned.

"Explain what?"

Ruby was somewhat at a loss for words.

"Well about you both being here." She finally found her voice.

She watched as her parents exchanged glances.

"We spoke on the phone before coming here this evening." Her mother explained softly. "We didn't want you to think that you'd have to choose between us so we agreed to come separately."

Ruby's mother looked on in surprise at the faces of all three girls in front of her.

"Whatever is the matter?" She asked them. "Any one would think that that was the wrong thing to do."

Maud took a deep breath.

"So you're saying that you knew that Mr Cherrytree was coming?"

Ruby's mother nodded.

"We may not be getting along but that's not Ruby's fault."

Mildred had been opening and closing her mouth, trying to find the right words.

"So we did all that for nothing?" She finally announced.

"Did all what?" Ruby's father wanted to know, suspicion tingeing his voice.

"Nothing." Maud said quickly. "Well we must dash. It's been nice to meet you." She grabbed Mildred by the hand and pulled her friend away.

"You do have the oddest friends." Ruby's father remarked as he watched the two girls hurry away.

* * *

Amelia looked around at what remained of the Great Hall, the walls were blackened and everywhere she looked, she saw broken chairs and torn up bunting. She let out a heavy sigh and turned her attention to Constance, who had appeared at her shoulder. 

"I thought you were going to get some rest?"

Constance shrugged her shoulders, dismissing the question, not wanting to explain how she had found it impossible to rest.

"It all looks a little bedraggled, doesn't it?"

Amelia 'hmmed' in response.

"Just don't say it." She warned her deputy.

"Say what?" Constance inquired innocently.

Amelia narrowed her eyes and looked sternly at her colleague.

"I can practically hear the words in the air."

Constance made a show of sealing her lips. Amelia looked away and then swiftly back again, trying to see a chink in her deputy's armour but her face remained impassive.

"Fine, fine." Amelia finally grumbled. "I'll say it then. You told me so." She folded her arms. "Are you happy now?"

The briefest of smiles ghosted across Constance's face; it was there for a fraction of a second before she regained her neutral expression.

"Do I take it that there will not be another parent's evening?" She inquired innocently.

"Not as long as I'm headmistress of this academy." Amelia told her firmly and stalked off towards her study, in search of a large slice of lemon cheesecake.

* * *

It was a little after three in the morning, when Constance opened up the doors to the Great Hall and silently stepped into the empty room. The walls were still hung with the tattered remains of the decorations but the room was now silent; the pupils and parents had long since departed. There was something special about the castle in the dead of the night, Constance decided. In the past, she had always found it reassuring to walk around the building in the early hours and take in the feeling of the magic that permeated every stone. The building was almost alive with magic and it was good to feel its reassuring presence after the events of the evening. She closed her eyes and reached out with her mind, trying to sense if there was any trace remaining of the malevolent entity. She relaxed slightly as she found nothing but the touch of the familiar. 

She folded her arms in satisfaction and glanced round at the ancient walls of the castle; there were still some things that were sacred after all. The castle contained the magic and the traditions of hundreds of witches. That magic had been under threat in more than one way the previous evening. There had been the full frontal assault by the entity and there had been the more subtle, but equally as dangerous, breaking of tradition that had threatened to change the school forever. Magic needed a delicate balance to work, it needed to be understood and treated with respect. Opening up the doors to the outside world was to throw all that heritage away and dilute it with the non-magical general public. That wasn't something that Constance was ready to do. She was well aware that she was one of a dying breed; that she was, in all probability, one of the last true witches in the education system. When she left, then things would begin to change and the lessons and standards of the past would be erased and some of the true magic within the school would be lost forever; that was probably the reason why the offer of the entity had been so appealing and had tempted her. She shivered and folded her arms tightly across her chest. That wasn't a thought that she really wanted to dwell on. There were a good few years left in her yet and whilst she remained a teacher at Cackles, she was determined to see that the old ways were respected.

She took one last look around the hall, satisfying herself that everything was as it should be, before turning silently on her heel and sweeping back out into the corridor.

In the furthest corner of the room, something dark and shadowy slunk back into the recesses and waited for its strength to return.


End file.
